L  T  B  R  A.  R  Y 

op   THE 

Theological    Seminary, 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

BS  650  .F7  1874 

Fraser,  William,  1817-1879 

Blending  lights 


BLENDING    LIGHTS. 


BLENDING    LIGHTS: 

OR, 

THE    RELATIONS   OF  NATURAL   SCIENCE, 

ARCH^.OLOG\\   AND   HISTORY, 

TO    HIE   BIBLE. 


REV.    WILLIAM     FRASER,    LL.D., 

I'AISI.KV,    SCOTLAND. 


Prove  all  things:  hold  fast  that  which  is  ^ood.'"  —  i    Thes.  v.  21. 


NEW   YORK: 
ROBERT   CARTER   AND    BROTHERS, 

530  Broadway. 
1874. 


PREFATORY    NOTE 
TO      SECOND      EDITION. 


''  I  ^HE  Author  is  grateful  for  the  kind  interest  with 
which  the  First  Edition  of  this  Work  has  been 
received,  and  is  encouraged  by  having  learned  that  his 
Exposition  has,  in  some  instances,  proved  satisfactory  to 
students  who  were  perplexed  by  recent  theories  and  specu- 
lations. 

The  Second  Edition  has  been  carefully  revised,  and  such 
references  as  seemed  necessary  have  been  made  to  im- 
portant works  which  have  been  published  since  the  First 
Edition  was  issued. 


Free  Middle  Manse, 
Paisley,  January,  1^74. 


NOTE 
TO     FIRST     EDITION. 


'  I  ■''HIS  book  originated  in  a  desire  to  provide  thoughtful 
and    inquiring   Young    Men    with    an    antidote   to 
Errors,  which    the  experience  of  the  Author  has  led  him 
to  regard  as  widely  prevalent. 

A  part  of  Chapters  XV.  and  XVI.  appeared  in  the 
British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review,  April,  1872,  in 
an  article  on  "  TJu'  NaturaJ  and  the  Supa-natural" 


Free  Middle  Manse, 
Paisley,  April,  iSjj. 


CONTENTS, 


Chapter  1.  ^^^^ 

Tendencies  to  Error — Subjects  to  be  Studied — Practical  Suggestions       i 

Chapter  II. 
The  First  Ciiaptcr  of  Genesis  —  Its  Distinguishing  Characteristics 
as  a  History  —  Origination  of  Matter  —  Import  of   "In  the 
Beginning"    15 

CllAl'TKR    III. 
The  First  Chapter  of  Genesis — Tiie  Origin  of  Ligiu — Its  Existence 
before  the  Sun  was  made  separately  Visible— The  Origination 
of  Life— The  Creative  Days    38 

Chapter  IV. 
Unity  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth — Unity  in  the  Structure  of  the 

Earth,  and  in  its  Life-Forms  57 

Chapter  V. 
Scripture  Allusions  coincident  with  Facts  in  Natural  Science 70 

Chapter  VI. 
The  Geologic  Fulness  of  Time  when  Man  appeared  83 

Chapter  VII. 
The    Bible    Account    of    Man's    Origin  —  The    Opinion    that    he 
was  Miraculously  Born — The  Theory  that  he  was  Naturally 
Developed g  I 

Chapter  VIII. 
Have  there  been  More  Origins  than  One  for  the  Human  Race  ? — 
The  Bible  Doctrine  in  Relation  to  Recent  Theories    116 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


Were  our  First  Parenls  Savages? — Recent  Theories  as  to  the  Origin 

of  Civilisation  considered  in  Relation  to  Scripiiueand  llistor)-  142 

CUAl'TKR  X. — Sulijict  Coittinttcd. 
Were  our  First  Parents  Savages  ? — Recent  Theories  as  to  the  Origin 
of  Civilisation  considered  in  Relation  to  the  Mental  Faculties, 
the  Moral  Sense,  and  Religion  166 

ClIAI'TliK   XI. 

The  Antiquity  of  Man — The  Bible  Chronology — The  Chronology 

of  Geologists 195 

CllAl'TKR  W\.— Subject  Coutiniicd. 
Antiquity  of  Man — The  Chronology  of  Archaeologists — Inferences 
as  connected  with  Geology  and  IIistoi7 — The  Danish  Shell- 
Mounds,  Swiss  Lake  Dwellings,  and  Egyptian  Monuments   ..   223 

CllAl'Ttk   Xlll. 
The  Bible  a  Light  among  Ancient  Records — Egyptian,  Chalda*an, 

and  Assyrian  Testimonies  to  the  Truth  of  the  Scriptures  252 

Chapter  XIV. 
Bible  History  in  Relation  to  Prophecy — The  Evidence  of  Prophecy 

— The  Idea  of  the  Supernatural  In.separable  from  it  296 

ClLXPTER    XV. 
Recent  Theories  regarding  the   Supernatural   and    the  Reigiv   of 
Law — Evidence  in  Nature  of  the  Supernatural    321 

CUAI'TER  XVI. — Subject  Continued, 
Evidence   in   Christianity  of  the   Supernatural  —  Results   in    the 
History  of  Chiistianity— Conclusion  348 


BLENDING   LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Tendencies  to  Error — Subjects  to  be  Studied — Practical 
Suggestions. 

Let  no  one,  upon  a  weak  conceit  of  sobriety  or  an  ill-applied  moder- 
ation, think  or  maintain  that  a  man  can  search  too  far,  or  be  too  well 
studied,  in  the  Book  of  God's  Word,  or  in  the  book  of  God's  Works, 
— Divinity  or  Philosophy, — but  rather  let  men  endeavour  an  endless 
progress  or  proficiency  in  both  ;  only,  let  them  beware  that  they  apply 
both  to  charity  and  not  to  arrogance  ;  to  use,  and  not  to  ostentation  ; 
and,  again,  that  they  do  not  mingle  or  confound  these  learnings  to- 
gether.— Bacon. 

MANY  have  lost  their  early  faith  in  the  Bible,  and 
are  following  its  guidance  with  faltering  footstep. 
Between  them  and  hitherto  accepted  truths,  the  sciences 
have  been  placing  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles. 
The  trustful  simplicity  with  which  they  once  read  the 
Sacred  Record,  has  almost  perished.  Inferences  by  the 
man  of  science,  conflicting  with  interpretations  of  Scrip- 
ture by  the  theologian,  have  rudely  shaken  their  most 
cherished  convictions.  They  are  not  infidels,  they  are  not 
sceptics,  for  doubt  is  distasteful  to  them  ;  they  long  for 
more  definite  expositions  and  a  firmer  faith. 

B 


2  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  I. 

Such,  possibly,  may  be  some  of  you.  In  the  midst  of 
such  discussions  as  are  at  present  in  progress,  perplexity 
is  not  unnatural.  Your  most  anxiously-sustained  investi- 
gations have  hitherto  only  multiplied  difficulties,  and  a  sense 
of  responsibility  alone  constrains  you  to  linger  over  con- 
clusions from  which  your  judgment  recoils.  This  hesitancy 
of  belief  may  be  at  the  outset  disheartening ;  yet  it  may 
be  inseparable  from  that  clearness  of  insight  and  that  force 
of  character,  which,  in  the  end,  commonly  create  the 
stablest  convictions,  and  evoke  adequate  proof  to  shield 
them.  To  shun  or  denounce  you  because  you  cannot 
acquiesce  in  what  we  believe,  is  inconsistent  not  only  with 
the  lessons  of  philosophy,  but  with  His  example  who  came 
to  "  bear  witness  to  the  truth." 

What  is  your  duty,  with  the  Natural  Sciences  on  the 
one  hand  appealing  so  largely  to  your  Reason,  and  the 
Scriptures  on  the  other  hand  appealiug  so  constantly  to 
your  Faith  ?  Obviously,  to  depreciate  neither,  but  to 
welcome  both  the  Sciences  and  the  Scriptures,  to  ascertain 
their  harmony,  to  note  their  differences,  and  to  accept  all 
the  treasures  of  truth  which  they  may  bring.  Indifference 
is  inexcusable  as  is  excessive  zeal,  and  apathy  as  antagonism. 

The  Bible,  free  to  us  as  are  the  fields  of  science,  chal- 
lenges the  severest  scrutiny.  It  is  the  boldest  of  books, 
and  demands  the  application  of  every  test.  As  it  is  the 
most  comprehensive  history  in  the  world,  and  gives  the 
amplest  scope  for  research  ;  as  its  earliest  records  are  the 
oldest  in  existence,  and  its  latest  prophecies  shed  light  far  into 
the  future  ;  as  it  touches  depths  and  reaches  heights  which 
no  other  book  can  approach ;  as  it  brings  into  closest 
connection  the  Visible  and  Invisible.  Natural  Law  and  Super- 
natural Influence,  the  condition  of  Man  and  the  character  of 
God,  it  is  exposed  to  assaults  which  no  other  book  can  bear. 


CHAP.  1.]  BLENDING  LIGHT.^.  3 


Systematic  and  persistent  study  is  required  at  your  hand, 
that  you  may  estimate  aright  not  only  the  facts  and  argu- 
ments brought  against  tlie  Bible,  but  those  also  which  are 
adduced  in  its  favour.  The  task'  may  be  arduous,  but  this 
price  is  not  too  great  for  the  settlement  of  questions  so 
momentous ;  and  if  the  solution  of  some  of  them  may 
have  to  be  for  a  season  postponed,  yours  will  be  the  satis- 
faction which  the  conscientious  improvement  of  every  op- 
portunity invariably  fosters. 

Different  lines  of  investigation  may  be  profitably  followed 
but  we  may  suggest  the  following  as  exhaustive,  or  nearly 
exhaustive,  of  the  most  prominent  questions  which  modern 
research  has  raised. 

As  the  Bible  is  confessedly  related  to  the  natural  sciences, 
archeology,  history,  and  modern  civilisation,  let  it  be  placed 
successively  in  the  midst  of  their  facts,  and  let  us  see  to 
what  extent  its  statements  can  bear  their  light. 

There  are  many  questions  which  none  of  us  can  honestly 
avoid ;  and  while  some  may  remain  unsettled,  the  unbiassed 
review  of  those  solutions  which  have  been  already  offered, 
and  which  have  been  generally  accepted,  will  be  found  to 
confirm  Scripture  instead  of  confuting  it. 

1.  As  to  Science. — Have  astronomy  and  geology  given  evi- 
dence for  or  against  the  eternity  of  the  visible  universe?  Has 
biology  determined  the  origin  of  life  ?  whence  is  it  ?  Have 
comparative  anatomy  and  physiology,  psychology  and  ethics, 
established  more  than  one  origin  for  the  human  race  ?  Are 
the  incidental  allusions  in  Scripture  contradicted  or  confirmed 
by  the  more  recent  discoveries  in  Natural  Science  ? 

2.  As  to  Arc/iceo/ogy. — Can  the  Bible  confront  prehistoric 
revelations  ?  Antiquity  is  pouring  over  the  oldest  records 
increasing  light.  Ruins,  monuments,  inscriptions,  parch- 
ments,   have    been   emitting    their   wondrous    testimonies, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  I. 


parallel  with  Scripture  histories.  Assjri^,  Egypt,  Palestine, 
Greece,  Rome,  in  their  histories,  revolutions,  and  domestic 
episodes,  have  all  been  intenvoven  A\nth  the  statements  of 
Scripture  as  with  those  of  no  other  book.  To  what  purpose 
has  historic  criticism  dealt  with  the  sacred  page  ?  Is  the 
Bible  yielding,  or  is  it  gromng  brighter  in  the  crucible  of 
archaeology  ? 

3.  As  to  Modern  History  and  CivUisation. — By  its  claim 
to  uplift  and  bless  the  human  race,  the  Bible  is  separated 
from  all  other  books.  It  proposes  to  revolutionise  man's 
moral  history  here,  and  to  prepare  him  for  a  future  whose 
course  it  in  part  delineates.  Has  it  failed,  or  is  it  failing  ? 
Has  it  been  enfeebled  by  the  lapse  of  ages  ?  Has  it  become 
effete  amid  changes  which  have  given  intellect  new  instru- 
ments and  reason  new  spheres?  Has  it  lost  its  former 
hold  of  the  human  mind,  and  is  it  sinking  amid  the  tumult 
of  bitteriy  conflicting  opinions  ?  Has  ever  tribe  been  found 
which  it  could  not  raise  and  enlighten?  or  has  ever  civilisation 
outshone,  in  any  land,  its  intellectual  and  moral  splendour  ? 

4.  As  to  the  Supernatural. — If  the  Bible  is  the  book  which 
it  professes  to  be,  and  which  we  hold  it  is,  the  ordinary  and 
the  extraordinary,  the  natural  and  the  supernatural,  must  be 
associated  in  its  character  and  history.  AMiat  is  the  warrant 
which  men  of  science  adduce  for  repudiating  the  super- 
natural while  they  accept  the  natural  ?  and  by  what  reason- 
ing does  the  Christian  apologist  attempt  to  preserve  their 
connection  ?  Is  there  no  evidence  around  us  in  the  con- 
trasts of  barbarism  and  civilisation,  as  well  as  in  the  histories 
of  nations,  in  their  relation  to  prophecy  ?  and  are  there  na 
facts  in  the  strangely  revolutionised  lives  of  thousands  in 
the  Christian  Church,  which  proclaim  the  singular  moral 
force  of  the  Word  of  God  ? 

Assuming  that  you  are  willing  to  follow  sucli  a  course  of 


CHAP.  I.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  5 

Study  as  we  have  sketched,  either  to  remove  doubts  which 
may  be  Hngering  in  your  own  mind,  or  to  aid  some  brother 
in  his  struggle  to  win  the  repose  which  you  have  gained, 
we  shall,  at  the  outset,  offer  some  suggestions  as  to  the  spirit 
and  the  method  by  which  your  work  should  be  characterised. 
It  is  of  much  importance  to  know,  in  the  first  place,  what 
is,  and  what  is  not  yet,  within  our  reach. 

I.  Do  not  assume  the  possibility,  in  the  present  state  oi 
our  knowledge,  of  demonstrating  a  perfect  agreement  be- 
tween Science  and  Scripture,  or  rather  between  the  infer- 
ences of  the  Philosopher  and  the  interpretations  of  the 
Theologian.  INIuch  remains  to  be  ascertained  before  that 
result  can  be  realised.  The  natural  sciences  are  confessedly 
incomplete ;  some  of  them  are  only  in  their  infancy,  and 
can  teach  us  little.  Many  years  may  pass  before  they  can 
be  brought  into  perfect  accord  with  the  Bible.  As  the  facts 
of  natural  science  have  not  been  all  ascertained  and  classi- 
fied, as  its  laws  have  not  been  all  recognised,  and  as  the 
inferences  of  to-day  may  be  modified  by  the  discoveries  of 
to-morrow,  it  is  absurd  to  be  demanding  immediate  evidence 
of  a  perfect  agreement  between  Scripture  and  science.  Ap- 
parent contradictions  are,  at  the  present  stage,  unavoidable. 
There  must  first  be  an  exact  and  exhaustive  examination  of 
all  those  points  at  which  the  Scriptures  and  the  sciences  touch 
each  other;  for  so  long  as  a  single  fact  or  a  single  law 
remains  unknown,  some  important  or  essential  truth,  inti- 
mately related  to  the  Bible,  may  be  concealed. 

While  the  natural  sciences  continue  incomplete,  natural 
theology  must  necessarily  have  an  imperfect  foundation. 
As  confessedly  dependent  on  what  is  incomplete,  natural 
theology  can  have  neither  the  comprehensiveness  nor  the 
definiteness  which  characterises  supernatural  theology,  as  de- 
pendent on  what  is  now  complete  and  unvarying.     We  can- 


6  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  I. 

not  force  the  legitimate  yet  somewhat  incoherent  teachings 
of  the  one  book — the  Works  of  God,  —of  which  but  a  few 
leaves  liave  been  separated,  scanned,  and  paged,  into  perfect 
harmony  with  the  teachings  of  the  otlier  book — the  '\\' ord  of 
God, — whose  revelation  of  truth  has  been  finished,  accredited, 
and  closed. 

2.  Wait  patiently,  while  you  work  persistently,  for  the 
solution  of  difficulties  which  may  be  continuing  to  press 
upon  you.  The  experience  of  the  past  is  an  encouragement 
for  the  future.  The  sciences  have  again  and  again  become 
their  own  interpreter,  and  rejected  erroneous  inferences. 
Many  examples  might  be  given,  but  one  or  two  may  in  the 
meantime  suffice.  Human  skeletons  were  found  in  what 
seemed  old  limestone,  on  the  north-east  coast  of  the  main- 
land of  Guadaloupe ;  and  after  bold  attacks  on  the  Bible, 
which  were  met  by  some  very  weak  and  irregular  defences, 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  whole  was  a  mistake, — that  the 
limestone  was  of  very  recent  formation,  that  the  skeletons 
were  of  well  known  Indian  tribes,  and  agitation  ceased.  A 
similar  commotion  was  raised  when  the  supposed  imprints 
of  human  feet  on  limestone  had  been  figured  and  described 
in  the  American  Journal  of  Science ;  and  Christians  met 
strange  infidel  hypotheses  by  feeble  assertions,  until  Dr. 
Dale  Owen  proved  the  imprints  to  have  been  sculptured  by 
an  Indian  tribe.  Thereafter,  for  a  season,  the  scientific  in- 
quirer and  the  theological  student  prosecuted  their  respective 
investigations  in  peace. 

There  are  important  lessons  for  us  in  these,  and  in  many 
similar  facts.  Christian  apologists  have  often  egregiously 
erred,  not  only  in  hastily  accepting  statements  as  to  supposed 
facts,  but  in  admitting  the  validity  of  the  reasoning  which 
has  been  eagerly  founded  on  them,  and  in  making  a  fruitless 
attempt  to  twist  ijcripture  into  harmony  with  what  science 


CHAP.  I.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


itself  has  subsequently  disowned.  Facts  ill  observed,  and 
afterwards  mis-stated,  have  drawn  many  of  our  best  and 
most  candid  students  into  unnecessary  collision  with  Biblical 
critics ;  and,  after  much  heat  in  controversy,  and  the  waste 
on  both  sides  of  much  intellectual  energy,  the  obstacle  lying 
between  them  has  unexpectedly  evanished  in  the  fuller  light 
of  science.  The  evil  to  be  deplored  is,  that  after  the  errors 
have  disappeared  their  influence  remains.  The  imprint  often 
lingers  long  after  the  counterfeit  die  has  been  broken. 

3.  There  is  a  constant  tendency  on  the  part  of  discoverers 
to  invest  new  facts  with  a  fictitious  interest,  and  those  who 
are  hostile  to  the  Bible  eagerly  parade  them  for  the  dis- 
comfiture of  Christians.     Every  fact  is  to  be  welcomed,  but 
it  is  to  be  treasured  up  only  that  it  may  be  adjusted  to  other 
facts,  and  become  in  part  the  foundation  of  a  new  truth. 
Isolated  and  unexplained  facts  have  been  too  often  uncere- 
moniously dragged  in  to  give  testimony  against  some  Scrip- 
ture statement,  and  have  been  too  easily  held  sufficient  to 
push  aside  those  accumulated  evidences  to  its  truth  which 
history  or  science,  or  both,  had  indisputably  established.    It  is 
not,  indeed,  surprising  that  the  faith  of  many  young  men  has 
failed,  when  they  have  observed  the  too  ready  acquiescence 
of  prominent  Christian  writers  in  theories  which  necessitate 
the  abandonment  of  some  of  the  impregnable  fortresses  which 
have  been  raised  by  exact  scholarship  around  those  portions 
of  Scripture  which  had  been  longest  exposed  to  the  fiercest 
assaults.     Were  this  method  common,  no  permanent  founda- 
tion could  be  laid,  and  progress  in  any  science  would  be 
impossible.     Is  it  not  absurd  to  be  displacing  corner-stones, 
and  disowning,  at  random,  first  principles?      No  system  of 
philosophy,  no  science,— not  even  mathematical,  the  exactest, 
and  in  one  sense  the  most  permanent,  of  all  the  sciences,— 
could  have  any  weight  or  make  the  least  progress  if  sub- 


8  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP. 


jected  to  such  changes  in  both  its  principles  and  their  appU- 
cations,  as  have  marked  the  history  of  Bible  assaults,  con- 
cessions, and  defences.  When  facts  which  are  utterly  inex- 
plicable are  presented,  we  should  retain  the  fact  in  science 
and  also  the  relative  statement  in  Scripture,  assured  that  in 
due  time  the  solution  will  come. 

4,  Neither  accept  nor  offer  apologies  for  the  Bible.  It 
has,  of  late,  become  common  on  the  part  of  those  who  are 
alarmed  by  the  temporary  triumphs  which  scientific  investi- 
gation has  given  to  those  who  are  avowedly  hostile  to  the 
Bible,  to  demand  that  its  propositions  be  altogether  dis- 
sociated from  both  Science  and  Philosophy,  on  the  plea 
that  the  Bible  was  not  given  to  teach  either  the  one  or  the 
other.  The  proposal  is  plausible,  but  it  is  really  unnecessary; 
for  although  not  given  to  teach  physical  science,  the  Bible 
cannot  contradict  either  its  facts  or  its  legitimate  infer- 
ences. The  W^ord  of  God  cannot  be  regarded  as  by  any 
possibility  contradicting  the  just  lessons  of  His  works, 
Like  every  other  book,  the  Bible  must  bear  all  the  light  that 
can  fall  on  its  pages ;  and  it  must  not  only  stand  the  tests  of 
criticism  and  history,  but  vindicate  all  its  claims  as  the  "more 
sure  Word  of  Prophecy."  Otherwise,  appeals  for  leniency 
are  profitless.  'i>ue,  in  its  highest  connections,  the  Bible 
is  unapproachable  by  other  books;  it  is  easily  distinguishable 
from  them  all ;  yet  in  its  human  relations  it  must  submit  to 
all  the  ordinary  appliances  of  scholarship.  No  apologies  can 
justify  a  single  error  in  either  its  science  or  its  history,  and 
its  prujjositions  are  obviously  inadmissible  if  they  contradict 
human  reason ;  they  may  be  above,  but  they  cannot  be 
opi)osed  to  it. 

5.  Akin  to  an  easy  escape  from  difficulties,  through 
apologies  for  the  Bible,  is  the  tendency  to  glide  into  con- 
clusions directly  hostile.     The  i)revailing\activity  of  the  age 


CHAP.  I.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


is  SO  unfavourable  to  leisurely  investigations,  as  to  facilitate 
the  subtle  advances  of  error.  While  many  writers  of  the 
present  day  are  as  pre-eminently  gifted,  and  as  distinguished 
in  the  different  departments  of  learning,  as  those  of  any 
preceding  age ;  and  while  their  reasonings  and  their  con- 
clusions are  borne  by  the  daily  or  the  serial  press  to  every 
man's  door,  multitudes  think  and  decide  by  substitute. 
They  want  leisure,  and  trust  to  others.  Rapidity  of  loco- 
motion,, the  chief  physical  feature  of  our  time,  betokens  also 
its  intellectual  tendencies.  Men  read  cursorily  and  decide 
rapidly.  The  daily  newspaper  is  making  book-study  rarer 
than  hitherto.  It  is  felt  in  ten  thousand  instances  to  be 
distasteful  or  difficult.  The  subtle  influence  of  the  daily 
newspaper  is  telling  on  our  thoughtfulness.  We  really  seem 
to  be  approaching  the  fulfilment  of  Lamartine's  prediction — 
"  Before  this  century  shall  have  run  out,  journalism  will  be 
the  whole  press,  the  whole  of  human  thought.  Thought 
will  not  have  had  time  to  ripen, — to  accommodate  itself 
into  the  form  of  a  book.  The  book  will  arrive  too  late ;  the 
only  book  possible  soon,  will  be  a  newspaper." 

As  one  result  of  this  process,  tnuh  and  error  are  often 
imperceptibly  commingled.  So  swift  is  the  transition  from 
one  fact  and  inference  to  another,  that  truth  and  error,  like 
different  colours  blent  into  one  by  rapid  motion,  become 
so  much  alike,  that  few  can  separate  them.  Thus  with  every 
advance  of  truth,  error  is  wafted  forward.  The  seeds  of 
future  tares  and  wheat  are  being  profusely  scattered.  It 
cannot  be  denied,  that  while  to  almost  every  man's  door 
are  daily  wafted  accurate  records  of  passing  history,  of  the 
discoveries  of  science,  of  the  triumphs  of  art,  and  of  the 
generalisations  of  philosophy,  the  same  messengers  no  less 
sedulously  exhibit,  now  faintly  and  now  in  the  strongest 
light,  every  difficulty  connected  with  the  Bible,  both  real 


lo  BLENDIXa    LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  I. 

and  imaginary',  the  boldest  objections  of  historic  criticism, 
the  theories  of  sijeculative  philosophy,  the  apparent  contra- 
dictions of  science  and  Scripture,  and  the  saddening  conflicts 
of  professing  Christians.  The  constant  diffusion  of  such  in- 
fluences does  tell  in  the  long  run,  not  only  on  less  active 
minds,  but  on  the  most  energetic,  and  it  renders  easier  of 
acceptance  every  erroneous  conclusion. 

But  this  incessant  activity  is  a  symptom  of  health.  It 
augurs  good.  Rightly  directed,  it  may  strengthen  character 
while  it  develops  mental  power,  and  gives  a  more  exquisite 
appreciation  of  the  just  and  true.  But  remember  that 
everything  depends  on  this  rightness  of  direction ;  and  to 
secure  this,  unfailing  caution  is  recjuired.  The  wind  and  tide 
which,  rightly  used,  would  hasten  the  voyager  to  his  har- 
bour, may,  if  unheeded,  strand  him  on  an  unexpected  shore ; 
and  those  subtle  forces,  and  those  under-currents,  which 
should  have  aided  in  guiding  us  to  a  satisfying  intellectual 
and  moral  repose,  may,  through  the  thoughtlessness  or  the 
indolence  that  at  tlie  outset  disregarded  a  slight  divergence 
from  the  truth,  almost  but  not  altogether  imperceptible, 
destroy  our  happiness  through  the  shipwreck  and  the  ultimate 
abandonment  of  our  Christian  faith. 

6.  Another  common  tendency  in  the  wrong  direction 
claims  your  attention.  It  manifests  itself  in  repugnance  to 
controversy  or  discussion  in  every  form.  Many  shrink  from 
it  as  unseemly,  and  seek  escape  in  either  solitude  or  study. 
While  peace  is  in  itself  desirable,  it  is  not  always  attainable. 
You  cannot  escape  conflict  by  letting  go  the  Bible ;  nor  can 
you  traverse  any  of  the  fields  of  .science  without  entanglement 
in  the  intellectual  struggles  of  disputants  whose  reasonings 
have  sometimes  but  little  of  the  calmness  of  philosophy. 
Nor  is  this  to  be  regretted.  The  repose  of  meditation  is  not 
so  bracing  as  the  discipline  of  occasional  contest  for  the  truth. 


CHAP.  I.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS. 


There  are  other  advantages.  The  attrition  of  discus- 
sion often  reveals  and  beautifies  truths  which  would  otherwise 
have  remained  unrecognised.  Apathy  or  silence  may 
shelter  error  without  preserving  truth.  Intellectual  indol- 
ence, bad  for  the  world,  is  still  worse  for  the  church.  The 
highest  life  is  demanded  by  the  Bible,  and,  therefore,  also 
the  greatest  activity.  From  intellectual  warfare,  the  sciences 
and  the  Scriptures  have  nothing  to  lose,  but  everything  to 
gain.  On  Christian  or  sceptic,  on  prophet  true  or  false,  the 
Bible  never  enforces  silence.  It  seals  no  thinkers  lip.  "The 
prophet  that  hath  a  dream,  let  him  tell  a  dream ;  and  he  that 
hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is 
the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord."^  In  the  field  of 
thought,  nothing  save  the  chaff  perishes.  Lost  truths  spring 
up  again;  and,  beneath  their  spreading  branches,  vitiated 
reasoning,  unsound  criticism,  and  erroneous  conclusions, 
ultimately  decay  as  briers  beneath  the  spreading  oak. 

There  are  those  also  who  deplore  discussion  only  because 
it  raises  questions  hostile  to  the  Scriptures,  and  alarms 
the  weak.  This  anxiety,  though  laudable,  is  fruitless. 
Vital  questions  are  already  discussed  on  all  hands,  and  in 
every  variety  of  aspect.  There  are  disadvantages,  but  they 
are  generally  inseparable  from  the  progress  of  tmth.  It  will 
be  admitted  on  both  sides,  that  while  the  extension  of  exact 
knowledge  contracts  the  sphere  of  superstition,  it  enlarges 
at  the  same  time  the  sphere  of  scepticism.  Superstition 
may  be  displaced  without  Christianity  becoming  its  substi- 
tute ;  there  may  be  a  high  and  an  attractive  civilisation, 
based  on  science  and  its  applications,  which,  in  acknowledg- 
ing the  intellectual  and  moral  supremacy  of  the  Bible,  and 
nothing ,  more,  may  for  a  season  destroy  creduUty,  only  to 


^  Jeremiah  .\.\xiii.  2S. 


1^  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  I. 

give  fuller  scope  to  No-Belief,  and  to  evoke  ultimately  an 
opposition  to  the  Bible  hitherto  repressed  or  unknown.  For 
such  results  we  must  be  prepared ;  they  are  collateral,  not 
essential  or  direct.  They  are,  in  fact,  the  price  which  we  pay 
for  our  intellectual  freedom.  We  are  neither  to  falter  nor 
hesitate  because  the  increasing  light,  which  is  dissipating 
ignorance  and  extending  the  boundaries  of  truth,  is  at  the 
same  time  indirectly  opening  to  error  a  wider  field  for  the 
distribution  of  her  forces,  revealing  new  weapons  for  her 
armoury,  and  enabling  her  to  seize,  and  for  a  season  to 
retain,  positions  hitherto  unknown  and  unassailed.  In  the 
history  of  the  physical  sciences,  and  of  archaeological  dis- 
covery, Error  has  often  rushed  to  the  battlements  of  Truth, 
and,  seizing  some  detached  or  imaginary  facts,  has  wielded 
them  against  tlie  Bible,  until  the  sciences  have  themselves 
expelled  her,  and  repudiated  her  reasoning.  Such  agitation 
is  not  to  be  deplored :  it  conduces  to  stability,  it  evokes 
more  good  than  evil,  and  not  unfrequently  has  it  happened 
that  the  superstition  which  long  benumbed  the  church,  and 
the  infidelity  which  aroused  her,  have  yielded  to  the  unex- 
pected sway  of  some  Bible  truth,  when  a  more  definite 
meaning  has  been  gi\en  to  some  natural  law  or  providential 
dispensation. 

Those  misunderstand  the  character  of  the  Bible  wlio  sup- 
pose its  safety  lies  in  keeping  it  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
rigorous  investigations  and  the  exact  conclusions  of  science 
or  philosophy.  Such  a  method  is  indefensible.  To  pursue 
tnith  in  one  department  implies,  or  should  imply,  not  only  a 
love  of  truth  in  every  department,  but  also  a  resolute  pur- 
pose to  discover  and  dislodge  every  error.  Which  of  the 
sciences,  as  preserved  from  controversy,  is  entitled  to  cast 
the  first  stone  at  the  others,  or  their  students?  ''Philosophy 
and  literature,"  says  Lord  Kinloch,  in  an  admirable  work, 


CHAP.  I.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  13 

"  while  professing  to  pursue  truth  in  the  composure  of  un- 
ruffled seckision,  and  to  be  desirous  of  having  it  elicited 
by  the  healthy  excitement  of  friendly  debate,  will  protest 
against  the  dishonour  of  soiling  their  hands,  or  disarranging 
their  robes  in  the  turmoil  of  heated  controversy ;  and  least 
of  all  will  they  consent  to  be  defiled  with  the  mire  or  exposed 
to  the  perils  of  religious  strife.  This  plea  is  false  in  fact,  as 
it  is  futile  in  philosophy.  It  is  in  fact  false ;  for  Hterary  and 
philosophical  controversies  have  neither  been  few  in  number 
nor  wanting  in  a  keen  and  rancorous  spirit.  And,  admitting 
that  religious  contentions  have  been  still  more  rancorous  and 
embittered,  it  is  only  what  might  reasonably  be  expected, 
on  account  of  the  higher  interests  at  stake.  The  plea  is, 
moreover,  worthless  on  philosophical  principles :  for  it 
eviscerates  the  distinction  between  truth  and  error  of  all 
meaning  and  value.  Better  not  to  admit  the  distinction  at 
all,  than,  having  admitted  it  in  one  instance,  deny  it  in 
another ;  or,  what  is  worse,  depreciate  its  significance  even 
to  thought,  and  that  too  in  the  most  important  of  its  appli- 
cations. All  argument  and  all  effort  are  for  ever  at  an  end, 
unless  truth, — yea,  all  truths — be  precious ;  so  precious, 
that  in  the  legitimate  pursuit  of  it  we  may  and  ought  to 
put  forth  our  utmost  strength ;  and  in  defence  of  it,  when 
found,  incur  the  utmost  hazard."  ^ 

Do  not  be  discouraged  by  apparently  insurmountable 
obstacles.  The  boldest  assertions  and  the  most  plausible 
reasonings  need  not  disturb  you.  Difiiculties  seemingly 
insuperable  have,  in  the  past,  suddenly  evanished  in  the 
light  of  unexpected  discoveries ;  and  every  science,  you  may 
rest  assured,  will  hereafter  show  strength  enough  and  light 
enough  to  purify  its  own  temple  and  be  its  own  interpreter. 


^  "Christian  Errors,  Infidel  Arguments,"  p.  97. 


14  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  I. 

The  past  may  be  held  to  be  prophetic  of  future  solutions ; 
and  the  sciences  will  be  found  not  only  correcting  the 
mistakes  and  the  arrogance  of  many  of  their  students,  but 
rebuking  the  too  hasty  concessions  of  Christian  apologists, 
and  either  directly  or  indirectly  revealing,  at  the  same  time, 
the  impressiveness  and  the  majesty  of  Scripture  tnith. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  First  Chapter  of  Genesis — Its  Distinguishing  Character- 
istics as  a  History — Origination  of  Matter — Import 
of  "  ///  the  beginning." 

The  archetype  of  science  is  the  universe,  and  it  is  in  the  disclosure  of 
its  successive  parts  that  science  advances  from  step  to  step ;  not  properly 
by  raising  any  new  architecture  of  its  own,  but  rather  unveiling  by 
degrees  an  architecture  as  old  as  creation.  The  labourers  in  philosophy 
create  nothing,  but  only  bring  out  into  exhibition  that  which  was  before 
created.  — CJictlmers. 

AS  a  historical  record,  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is 
without  a  compeer.  It  is  unapproached.  Its  first 
announcements  distinguish  the  Bible  from  all  other  books. 
Its  siinplicity,  its  directness  of  statement,  its  boldness  of 
conception,  its  subdued  grandeur,  are  throughout  conspicu- 
ous. "  The  historical  events  described,"'  says  Delitzsch, 
"  contain  a  rich  treasury  of  speculative  thoughts  and  poetical 
glory,  but  they  themselves  are  free  from  the  influence  of 
human  invention  and  human  philosophising."  The  record 
begins  where  the  investigations  of  natural  science  cease,  and 
this  very  peculiarity  has  drawn  upon  the  Bible  the  fiercest 
assaults.  Every  statement  has  been  in  turn  sifted,  rejected, 
and  vindicated  ;  and  one  of  the  fairest  tests  which  at  the 
very  outset  we  can  apply,  is  carefully  to  compare  the  Bible 
account  of  creation  and  of  the  preparation  of  the  earth  for 
man,  with  those  parallel  histories  by  which  heathen  nations 
have  hitherto  been  guided. 

Reserv'ing  for  future  consideration  the  mutual  relations  of 
its  more  definite  statements,  let  us  therefore  at  once  place 


l6  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  II. 


this  portion  of  Scripture  history  side  by  side  with  the  best 
substitutes  which  antiquity  and  modem  history  can  flirnish. 
Their  incongruities  are  so  apparent  as  to  be  kidicrous.  If 
you  take  the  Chaldean,  the  Phoenician,  and  the  Eg)-ptian,  as 
illustrative  of  ancient  cosmogonies,  and  the  varied  delinea- 
tions and  beliefs  of  Northern  Europe  and  India  as  illustrative 
of  accepted  records  in  more  recent  times,  you  cannot  fail 
to  recognise  llie  wonderful  pre-eminence  of  the  Bible,  and 
to  be  thankful  for  it. 

I. — Heathen  Histories  of  Crf.atk^n.  compared   with 
THE  Bible  Record  : — 

1.  In  the  Chaldean  myth,  the  "AH  '  is  represented  as 
consisting  of  darkness  and  water,  filled  with  monstrous 
creatures  of  compound  form,  and  governed  by  a  woman, 
whose  name,  Homoroka,  signifies  ocean.  This  woman  was 
cut  into  two  halves  by  Bel,  the  supreme  deity  :  the  one 
half  formed  the  earth,  the  other  heaven.  Bel  thereafter  cut 
off  his  own  head,  and  from  the  drops  of  his  blood  men  were 
formed. 

2.  In  the  Phcenician  cosmogony,  the  beginning  of  the 
"  All "  was  a  dark  nindy  air,  a  turbid  eternal  chaos.  By 
the  union  of  the  spirit  with  the  "  All,"  or  uni\erse,  slime 
was  formed,  from  whicl.  ever)'  seed  of  creation  was  educed. 
The  heavens  were  made  in  the  form  of  an  egg,  from  which 
sprang  sun,  moon,  and  .stars  and  constellations.  By  the 
meeting  of  tlie  earth  and  the  sea,  winds  arose,  with  clouds 
and  rain,  lightning  and  thunder.  The  noise  of  the  tempests 
aroused  sensitive  beings,  and  henceforth  living  creatures, 
male  and  female,  moved  in  the  sea  and  on  the  earth. 

3.  The  Egyptians  had  severil  myths,  the  chief  of  which 
was  that  the  heaven  and  earth  were  at  first  connningled,  biu 
aftenvards  the  elements  began  to  separate.  "  The  fiery  par- 
ticles, owing  to  their  levity,  rose  to  the  upper  regions ;  the 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  17 

muddy  and  turbid  matter,  after  it  had  been  incorporated 
with  the  humid,  subsided  by  its  g\vx\  weight.  By  continued 
motion,  the  watery  particles  separated  and  became  the  sea, 
the  more  sohd  constituted  the  dry  land.  Warmed  and 
fecundated  by  the  sun,  the  earth,  still  soft,  produced  difterent 
kinds  of  creatures,  which,  according  as  the  fiery,  watery,  or 
earthy  matter  predominated  in  their  constitution,  became 
inhabitants  of  the  sky,  the  water,  or  the  land."  Similar 
absurdities  prevail  in  the  myths  of  Greece  and  Etruria.^  Take 
the  following  quotation  from  the  Laws  of  Menu,  as  illustrative 
of  the  strange  beliefs  of  millions  in  India  at  the  present  day, 
who  regard  these  laws  as  a  revelation  from  Brahma  : — 

"  This  universe  existed  only  in  darkness,  imperceptible, 
undefinable,  undiscoverable  by  reason, — undiscovered,  as  if 
it  were  wholly  immersed  in  sleep.  There,  the  self-existing 
power,  himself  undiscovered,  but  making  this  world  dis- 
cernible with  fire-elements  and  other  principles,  appeared 
with  undiminished  glory,  dispelling  the  gloom.  He  whom 
the  mind  alone  can  perceive,  whose  essence  eludes  the 
external  organs,  who  has  no  visible  parts,  who  exists  from 
eternity, — even  he,  the  soul  of  all  beings,  whom  no  being  can 
comprehend,  shone  forth  in  person.  He  ha\ing  willed  to 
produce  various  beings  from  his  own  substance,  first,  with  a 
thought,  created  the  waters,  and  placed  in  them  a  productive 
seed.  The  seed  became  an  egg,  bright  as  gold,  blazing  like 
the  luminary  with  a  thousand  beams,  and  in  that  egg  he  was 
born  himself  in  the  form  of  Brahma,  the  great  forefather  of 
all  spirits.  The  waters  are  called  Nara,  because  they  were 
the  offspring  of  Nara,  the  supreme  spirit ;  and  as  in  them  his 
first  ayana  (progress)  in  the  character  of  Brahma  took  place, 

^  See  "Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch,"  by  Keil  and  Delitzsch,  vol. 
I.,  pp.  38-40;  ami  "Creation  and  the  Fall,"  by  the  Rev.  D.  Mac- 
Donald,  pp.  48-60. 

C 


1 8  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  II. 

he  is  thence  Narayana  (he  whose  place  of  moving  was  the 
waters).  From  that  which  is  the  cause,  not  the  object,  of 
sense, — existing  everyAvhere  in  substance,  not  existing  to  our 
perception,  without  beginning  or  end, — was  produced  the 
divine  male,  famed  in  all  the  worlds  as  Brahma.  In  that  egg 
the  great  power  sat  inactive  a  whole  year  of  the  creator ;  at 
the  close  of  which,  by  his  thought  alone,  he  caused  the  egg  to 
divide  itself,  and  from  its  two  divisions  he  framed  the  heaven 
above  and  the  earth  beneath ;  in  the  midst,  he  placed  the 
subtle  ether,  the  eight  regions,  and  the  permanent  receptacle 
of  the  waters.  He  gave  being  to  time ;  to  the  stars  also, 
and  the  planets  ;  to  rivers,  oceans,  and  mountains  ;  to  level 
plains  and  uneven  valleys ;  to  devotion,  speech,  compla- 
cency, desire,  and  wrath  ;  and  to  creation.  For  the  sake  of 
distinguishing  action,  he  made  a  total  difference  between 
right  and  A\Tong. 

"That  the  human  race  might  be  multiplied,  he  caused 
the  Brahman,  the  Kshatriya,  the  Vaishya,  and  the  Shudra 
(the  four  castes),  to  proceed  from  his  mouth,  his  arm,  his 
thigh,  and  his  foot.  Having  divided  his  own  substance,  the 
mighty  power  became  half  male  and  half  female,  and  from 
that  female  he  produced  Viraj.  Know  me,  O  most  excellent 
Brahmans,^to  be  that  person  whom  the  male  power,  Viraj, 
produced  by  himself, — me,  the  secondary  framer  of  all  this 
visible  world.",  ^ 

These  are  m'^rely  specimens  of  what  millions  have  beHeved 
in  bygone  ages,\)r  arc  still  believing.  Ancient  and  modern 
cosmogonies  alike  contradict  the  commonest  and  most 
elementary  truths  V)f  physical  science.  In  the  most  sacred 
\vritings  of  the  Hindoos,  there  are  at  the  present  day  state- 

'  See  "What  is  tnithV'  an  Inquiry  concerning  the  Antiquity  and 
Unity  of  the  Human  RaccXby  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  pp.  241,  242. 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


19 


ments  so  ludicrous  as  to  sadden  us  when  we  reflect  that  for 
millions  they  are  the  basis  of  religious  beliefs.  The  moon 
is  described  as  having  inherent  light,  and  as  higher  than  the 
sun ;  and  rational  beings  have  forages  been  taught  and  have 
believed  that  seven  storeys  of  the  globe  rest  on  the  heads  of 
elephants,  whose  movements  are  the  cause  of  terrifying  and 
calamitous  earth<iuakes.  And  the  Mahommedan  is  taught 
by  his  Koran  to  believe  that  the  mountains  are  created  to 
prevent  the  earth  from  moving,  and  to  hold  it  as  by  anchors 
and  cables,— ''And  God  hath  thrown  upon  the  earth  moun- 
tams  firmly  rooted,  lest  it  should  move  with  you."  1 

While  far  removed  from  such  incongruities  as  these,  the 
Mosaic  record  shows  also  remarkable  freedom  from  merely 
local  or  national  peculiarities.    To  this  fact  too  little  import- 
ance has  been  attached.     It  is  especially  worthy  of  notice 
that  such  incidental  details  as  the  climate,  the  sky  and  the 
configuration  of  the  land  give,  to  a  large  extent,  their  own 
character  to  the  locally  prevailing  ideas  as  to  the  whole 
universe.      The   Euphrates   and   the  Mesopotamian  plains 
mfluence  the  Babylonian  cosmogony;  the  Nile  gives  charac- 
ter to  the  Egyptian ;  sunny  slopes  and  contrasting  heights 
determme  the  Grecian;  and  valley  gloom,  forest  depths  and 
wmtry  storms,  the  Scandinavian.     It  is  easy  to  trace  the 
physical  basis  of  distinct  cosmogonies.     The  bases  them- 
selves may  vary,  but  their  connexion  with  religious  beliefs  is 
always  uniform.     Even  national  myths  as  to  creation  have 
not  preserved  their  original  cast."     Tliey  have  ^•aried  with 


1  Tv'^ 


Koran.     Sale's  Translation,  vol.  II.,  p.  96  and  p.  266. 
Aotc.—'Y\iQ  Mahommedans  suppose  that  the  eartli,  «hen  first  created 
was  smooth  and  equal,  and  thereby  liable  to  a  circular  motion  as'well 
as  the  celestial  orbs  :  and  that  the  angels,  asking  who  would  be  able  to 
stand  on  so  touering  a  frame,  God  fixed  it  ne.xt  morning  by  throwing 
the  mountains  upon  \K.— Sale's  Koran,  vol.  II.,  p  '^6 


20  BI. ENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  II. 

the  history  of  the  people.  While  the  religious  tendency  of 
the  national  mind,  and  the  traditional  basis  as  to  the  mere 
fact  of  creation,  have  remained,  the  form  of  the  cosmogony 
has  been  completely  changed ;  it  has  been  so  moulded  as  to 
suit  the  different  physical  conformation  and  other  varied  con- 
ditions of  the  new  country  in  which  the  people  have  settled. 
These  modifying  processes  Baron  Bunsen  himself  has  acknow- 
ledged, when  he  says  :  "  Again,  the  dispersed  tribes  formed 
many  of  their  myths  anew  when  they  settled  in  their  later 
dwelling  places.  Thus,  in  the  cosmogonic  myths  of  the 
Icelander,  as  presented  to  us  in  the  Edda,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  perceive  the  influence  of  the  peculiar  locality  of  the  North 
Scandinavian."  ^  But  then,  no  such  process  or  influence  is 
ever  traceable  in  the  Bible  account.  There  is  nothing  local ; 
nothing  contingent ;  nothing  dependent  on  the  traditions 
of  any  country  ;  nothing  incongruous  or  absurd. 

How  account  for  this?  Have  you  ever  made  the  at- 
tempt ?  Was  not  Moses  brought  up  in  the  learning  of  the 
Egyi^tians  ?  How  did  he  escape  its  influence  ?  Was  he 
not  for  many  years  a  wanderer  in  the  Arabian  desert,  and 
was  he  not  familiar  with  all  the  traditions  floating  in  the  east 
and  the  west  ?  If  the  Bible  is  no  higher  than  other  records, 
is  it  not~strange  that  not  a  line  appears  which  indicates  in 
the  least  any  such  antecedent  influence?  Might  we  not 
reasonably  count  on  the  Leader  and  Lawgiver  of  Israel 
showing  sonre  disposition  to  associate  Eden,  man's  birth- 
place, with  the  Land  of  Promise,  which  he  longed  to  reach, 
and  which  he  saw  in  the  distance  as  Israel's  future  home  ? 
Yet,  in  this  remarkable  histor}-,  not  one  of  these  defects 
appears.  Vast  in  its  outline,  it  is  yet  so  scrupulously  strict 
in  its  minuter  details,  that  it  may  be  read  without  dubiety, 

^  Buiisen's  "  Philosophy  of  Universal  History,"  vol.  I.,  p.  80. 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


21 


not  only  in  the  midst  of  the  exactest  records  of  antiquity, 
but  in  the  hght  of  those  modern  discoveries  in  physical 
science  which  bear  most  directly  on  its  statements.  In  re- 
hableness  and  in  consistency,  it  stands  alone.  The  myths 
of  heathenism  regarding  the  origin  of  the  world  can  be  easily 
separated  from  it.  They  are  all  rebuked  by  its  accuracy. 
While  it  contains  every  element  of  truth  which  imparts  to 
them  any  coherency  which  they  possess,  it  gives  no  place  to 
their  grotesque  and  deformed  traditions. 

Whence  this  exact  and  most  impressive  record .?     In  the 
midst  of  that  intellectual  and  superstitious  chaos  which,  ac- 
cording to  some  theorists,  antiquity  at  first  presented,  how 
arose  this  bright,  solid,  and  wondrously  hannonious  system  ? 
Traditions  could  not  aid  Moses.     They  only  darkened  while 
they  multiplied  the  elements  of  confusion.      Had  he  really, 
as  some  suppose,  the  sagacity  to  select,  and  the  skill  to  com- 
bine, separate  truths  as  to  creation,  while  he  cast  aside  the 
errors  or  the  refuse  of  ages .?     Before  you  can  answer  that 
question,  you  require  to  pass  in  review  the  grotesque  beliefs 
and  practices  of  all  the  surrounding  nations  at  the  time  in 
which  he  lived,  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  the  defective 
scholarship  of  the  priests,  and  the  absence  of  attainments  in 
natural    science;    and   you    must    inquire   into   the    mere 
possibility  of  Moses  or  of  any  other  man,  however  refined  in 
feeling  and  profound  in  thoughtfulness,  producing  of  himself 
such  a  history  as  shines  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.    The 
production  of  such  a  record  as  that  out  of  the  materials  then 
existing,  may  be  held  as  beyond   the   capabilities  of  any 
unaided  human  intellect.     We  do  not  reason  here  as  to  the 
inspiration  of  the  record ;    we  are   dealing   only  with  the 
superiority  of  the  Bible  record  over  all  others,  as  presump- 
tive evidence  that  it  is  worthy  not  only  of  your  careful  study, 
but  of  )Our  unhesitating  acceptance. 


22  BLENDnWG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  II. 

It  does  not  avail,  for  the  settlement  of  this  question,  to  say 
that  the  singular  excellence  of  the  Bible  account  of  creation 
is  due  to  the  comparati\-ely  pure  and  correct  views  of  the 
Divine  Being  which  were  held  by  the  Hebrews ;  for  there 
is  this  prior  question,  how  came  the  Hebrews  to  have  these 
correct  views?  Seeing  their  tendency  to  idolatrj^  and  to 
other  heathen  practices,  how  is  it  that  they  preserved  this 
historic  gem  in  undimmed  lustre?  If  this  history  is  indeed 
to  be  regarded  as  no  more  than  a  mere  deduction  from  dif- 
ferent traditions  by  a  philosophic  thinker,  it  is  certainly  a 
solitary  result  in  the  region  of  human  effort.  It  has  no 
parallel.  In  exactness,  in  splendour,  in  magnitude,  and  in 
far-reaching  insight,  there  can  be  found  no  similar  result  in 
the  history  of  the  most  cultivated  nations  of  either  ancient 
or  modern  times. 

Passing  from  the  connexion  of  this  portion  of  Bible  history 
with  those  widely-received  cosmogonies,  let  us  examine  its 
constituent  sections  in  their  mutual  relations.  Can  they  be 
adjusted  to  one  another  ?  And  can  they  be  satisfactorily 
hannonised  with  the  facts  of  science  ? 

II. — A  Beginning. 

In  tlie  very  first  verse,  we  ha\e  an  announcement  which 
distances  all  that  natural  science  can  reach  or  reveal, — 
"  In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth." 
The  doctrine  of  creation  confronts  us.  The  origination  of 
matter,  as  against  its  eternal  existence,  is  proclaimed.  God 
is  directly  connected  with  the  universe.  As  already  indi- 
cated, the  last  position  ^ly•hich  natural  science  can  reach, 
and  which  limits  natural  teleology,  is  the  starting-point  of 
Biblical  or  systematic  theolo^'.  It  begins  where  the  others 
end.  There  is  no  shelter  giv^n  to  Pantheism  or  Atheism. 
Both  are  alike  repudiated.  God  is  not  set  forth  as  a  mere 
power  moving  within  the  mysterious  haze  of  infinity,  and 


CHAP.  II. J  BLEXDING   LIGHTS.  23 

having  no  more  relation  to  this  world  and  its  inhabitants 
than  the  cold  gaze  of  a  distant  star.  There  is  neither 
hesitancy  nor  ambiguity.  By  this  positive  exclusion  of 
eternity  from  the  existence  of  the  universe,  and  by  repelling 
the  idea  of  accidental  creation,  the  fact  of  a  beginning  is 
raised  in  the  Bible  not  only  above  all  the  entangling  specu- 
lations of  recent  philosophy,  but  above  the  boldest  reasonings 
of  modern  scepticism.  This  is,  indeed,  in  some  instances, 
frankly  admitted  by  those  who  have  pushed  the  discoveries 
of  science  to  their  present  limit.  They  tell  us  that  however 
much  farther  they  may  hereafter  proceed,  they  have  no  hope 
of  gaining  the  least  insight  into  that  origination  of  matter  of 
which  the  Scriptures  speak.  This  point  they  regard  as 
beyond  the  aim  of  the  sciences,  for  each  is  restricted  to  its 
own  facts  and  laws,  and  is  necessarily  silent  as  to  history 
antecedent  to  itself.  "  To  ascend  to  the  origin  of  things," 
says  Sir  John  Herschel,  "  and  speculate  on  creation,  is  not 
the  business  of  the  natural  philosopher."  ^ 

Men  of  lesser  capacity,  though  of  equal  sincerity,  profess 
to  despise  the  Bible  declaration  as  to  a  beginning ;  but  their 
scorn  is  unavailing,  for  their  reasoning  and  inferences  are 
rapidly  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the  very  sciences  which 
they  most  revere  and  serve.  Historically,  the  changed  tone 
of  scepticism  is  encouraging.  Spurning  the  subjection  of 
their  reason  to  revelation,  and  pitying  the  "  weakness "  of 
those  who  disliked  their  arrogance  and  rejected  their  dogmas, 
they  demanded  proof  of  a  beginning,  and  evidence  for  the 
probability  of  a  close  or  change  in  the  future. 

Accomplished  Christian  apologists  found  it  vain  to  reason 
with  those  who  paid  servile  homage  to  Plato,  while  they  ridi- 
culed Moses,  and  who  carried  the  principles  which  Newton 

^  Preliininaiy  Discourse  on  the  Study  of  Natural  Philosophy,  p.  38, 


24  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  11. 

enunciated  beyond  their  legitimate  application.  They  were 
constrained  to  be  silent,  because,  as  yet,  the  sciences  gave 
them  no  argument  by  which  to  meet  the  questions  of  their 
opponents.  But  the  most  recent  findings  of  natural  philo- 
sophy have  strikingly  vindicated  the  Scriptures,  and  have  so 
cast  discredit  on  the  boasted  assumptions  of  an  imperfect 
science,  that  almost  no  man  of  acknowledged  eminence  can 
now  be  found  to  vindicate  the  eternity  of  the  present  cosmical 
dispensation ;  and  sceptical  theorists  have  to  content  them- 
selves by  boldly  asserting  that  creation,  or  a  beguniing  by  the 
will  of  a  Creator,  is  altogether  inconceivable. 

Some  of  our  highest  authorities  in  physical  science,  pro- 
secuting their  investigation  without  the  slightest  reference  to 
Scripture  statements,  have  given  them  direct  confirmation, 
and  have  set  aside  the  assertion  of  "  inconceivableness." 
"  The  doctrine  of  a  resisting  medium  leads  us  towards  a 
point  which  the  nebular  hyi^othesis  assumes  —a  beginning 
of  the  present  order  of  things.  There  must  have  been  a  com- 
mencement of  the  motions  now  going  on  in  the  solar  system. 
Since  these  motions,  when  once  begun,  would  be  deranged 
and  destroyed  in  a  period  which,  however  large,  is  yet  finite, 
it  is  obA-ious  we  cannot  carry  their  origin  indefinitely  back- 
wards in  the  range  of  past  duration.  The  argument  is  indeed 
forced  upon  our  minds,  whatever  view  we  take  of  the  past 
history  of  tlie  world.  Some  have  endeavoured  to  evade  its 
force  by  maintaining  that  the  world,  as  it  now  exists,  has 
existed  from  eternity.  .  .  .  But  we  may  observe  that  the 
doctrine  of  a  resisting  medium,  once  established,  makes  the 
imagination  untenable,  compels  us  to  go  back  to  the  origin, 
not  only  of  the  present  course  of  the  world,  not  onl}'  of  the 
earth,  but  of  the  solar  system  itself;  and  thus  sets  us  forth 
upon  that  path  of  research  into  the  series  of  past  causation, 
where  we  obtain  no  answer  of  which  the  meaning  corresponds 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LWIITS.  25 

to  our  questions,  till  we  rest  in  the  conclusion  of  a  most 
provident  and  most  powerful  Creating  intelligence."  ^ 

And  the  following  results,  stated  by  Sir  William  Thomson 
are,  by  their  definiteness,  very  encouraging  to  the  Bible 
student,  as  confirming  the  declarations  of  the  Scriptures,  not 
only  as  to  the  commencement,  but  as  to  the  close,  of  the 
present  cosmical  dispensation. 

1.  "There  is  at  present,  in  the  material  world,  a  universal 
tendency  to  the  dissipation  of  mechanical  energy. 

2.  "  Any  restoration,  of  mechanical  energy,  without  more 
than  equivalent  dissipation,  is  impossible  to  inanimate  ma- 
terial processes,  and  is  probably  never  effected  by  means  of 
organised  matter,  either  endowed  with  vegetable  life  or  sub- 
jected to  the  will  of  an  animated  creature. 

3.  "  Within  a  finite  period  of  time  past,  the  earth  must  have 
been,  and  within  a  finite  period  of  time  to  come,  the  earth 
must  again  be,  unfit  for  habitation  of  man  as  at  present 
constituted,  unless  operations  have  been,  or  are  to  be,  per- 
foniied,  which  are  impossible  under  the  laws  to  which  the 
known  operations  going  on  at  present  in  the  material  world 
are  subject."  - 

That  statement  is  itself  a  valuable  contribution  to  Biblical 
apologetics.  Inexorable  fact  and  demonstration  have  not 
only  dissipated  perpetually  recurrent  theories  as  to  the  eter- 
nity of  the  present  material  system,  but  furnished  pre- 
sumptive evidence  of  a  new  and  higher  order  of  existences. 
These  remarkable  conclusions  not  only  confirm  the  Bible 
declaration  as  to  a  commencement,  but  with  prophetic  direct- 
ness they  sustain  its  delineations  of  change  and  dissolution, 
and  of  the  establishment  of  "new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth." 

^  Bridgewater  Treatise,  by  Dr.  Whewell,  p.  206.     Edition,  1833. 
^  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  1S52. 


26  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  II. 

III.— A  Close. 

The  reasoning  which  has  estabUshed  a  "beginning," 
has  also  so  distinctly  demonstrated  a  close,  that  although, 
historically,  we  should  reserve  for  a  future  stage  our  brief 
discussion  of  the  subject,  yet,  logically,  we  have  sufficient 
warrant  for  noticing  it  here.  The  coniinencement  and  the 
close  are  so  linked  together  in  our  cosmical  history,  that 
what  affects  the  one  influences  the  other.  Accordingly, 
while  astronomy  has  given  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the 
Scriptures,  geology  has  been  no  less  decided  a  witness  to 
both  a  beginning  and  a  close.  In  subjecting  the  assump- 
tions of  geological  theorists  to  the  tests  of  natural  philosophy. 
Sir  William  Thomson  has  given  a  salutary  check  to  unregul- 
ated speculation,  and  has  freed  the  question  of  time  from 
some  unnecessarily  distracting  elements. 

Apart  from  his  special  line  of  investigation,  geologists  ha\e 
come  to  the  same  conclusion  with  him  regarding  a  com- 
mencement ;  the  difference  betAveen  them  and  him  is  in  the 
length  of  time  backward  to  that  commencement.  "  There 
is  not,"  says  Lyell,  "  an  existing  stratum  in  the  body  of  the 
earth  which  geology  has  laid  bare,  which  cannot  be  traced 
back  to  a  time  when  it  was  not ;  and  there  is  not  an  existing 
species  of  plants,  or  animals,  which  cannot  be  referred  to  a 
time  when  it  had  no  place  in  the  world.  Their  beginnings 
are  discoverable  in  succeeding  cycles  of  time.  It  can  be 
demonstrated  that  man  also  had  a  beginning,  and  all  the 
species  contemporary  with  him,  and  that,  therefore,  the 
present  state  of  the  organised  world  has  not  been  sustained 
from  eternity."  "It  is  beyond  dispute,  and  is  proved  by 
the  physical  researches  of  the  eartli,  that  these,  the  visible 
forms  of  organic  life,  had  a  beginning  in  time."  ^     These 

*  "SedgAvick's  Dibcourse,"  p.  17. 


CHAP.  II. J  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  27 

conclusions  are  incontrovertible  ;  the  difficulties  which  many 
have  felt  have  arisen  from  the  unwarrantable  extension  of 
time  for  the  dawn  of  life-forms,  and  for  their  development. 
Millions  of  millions  of  years  have  been  claimed  for  certain 
theories  as  to  the  beginning  and  the  progress  of  life ;  and, 
apart  altogether  from  the  Bible  record,  the  question  was  ever 
forcing  itself  on  the  unprejudiced  student,  How  determine 
whether  the  earth,  in  these  bygone  ages,  could  possibly  be 
the  home  of  life  ?     ^^'hat  evidence  is  there  that  the  physi- 
cal conditions  of  the  earth  were  such  that  it  could  sustain 
plants  and  animals  in  even  their  most  rudimentary  forms  ? 
With  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  this  question,  Sir  William 
Thomson  has  rigidly  applied  to  the  gradual  cooling  of  the 
globe  and  its  motions,  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy. 
In  a  very  suggestive  paper  on  "  Geological  Time,"  in  which 
he  has  considered  the  retardation  of  the  earth's  rotation,  he 
has  made  the  following  striking  statement : — "  But  if  you  go 
back  to  ten  thousand  million  years  ago — which  I  believe 
will  not  satisfy  some  geologists — the  earth  must  have  been 
rotating  more  than  twice  as  fast  as"  at  present ;  and  if  it  had 
been  solid  then,  it  must  be  now  something  totally  different 
from  what  it  is.     Now,  here  is  a  direct  opposition  between 
physical  astronomy  and  modern  geology,  as  represented  by 
a  very  large,  very  influential,  and,  I  may  also  add,  in  many 
respects  philosophical  and  sound  body  of  geological  inves- 
tigators, constituting  perhaps  a  majority  of  British  geologists. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  a  great  mistake  has  been  made — that 
British  popular  geology,  at  the  present  time,  is  in  direct  op- 
position to  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy.     Without 
going  into  details,  I  may  say  it  is  no  matter  whether  the 
earth's  lost  time  is  twenty-two  seconds,  or  considerably  more 
or  less  than  twenty  seconds  in  a  century,  the  i)rinciple  is  the 
same.     There  cannot  be  uniformity.    The  earth  is  filled  with 


38  BJ.EiXDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  il. 

evidence  that  it  has  not  bcai  going  0}i  for  ever  in  the  present 
state,  and  that  there  is  a  process  of  events  towards  a  state 

INFINITELY  DIFFERENT  FROM  THE  PRESENT."  ^ 

That  is  a  remarkable  finding.  It  corroborates  prophecy. 
In  delineating  the  close  of  the  present  system,  the  Bible 
has  done  what  no  other  book  has  ever  attempted.  That 
*'  there  is  a  process  of  events  towards  a  state  infinitely  dif- 
ferent from  the  present,"  is  a  conclusion  of  the  greatest  interest 
to  us ;  and  it  encourages  those  to  hold  their  position  fimily 
who  refuse  to  accept,  as  pictorial,  or  as  figures  of  speech,  the 
direct  and  literally  historical  statements  of  Scripture.  We 
cannot  modify  them  without  incurring  serious  reproach. 

It  is  not  long  since  every  passage  in  the  Bible  referring  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  present  economy,  was  exposed  to  the 
ridicule  of  a  merciless  scepticism  ;  and  Bible  expositors 
abandoned  truths  which  they  should  have  held  fast  and 
defended.  While  there  are  descriptions  in  which  the  teniis 
"  heaven  and  earth "  refer  only  to  dispensational  changes, 
and  while  some  prophecies  tell  of  revolutions  in  the  Jewish 
nation,  and  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  there  still 
remains  so  much  that  is  neither  figurative  nor  symbolical,  that 
doubt  is  inadmissible.  Let  us  note  some  of  those  prophetic 
descriptions  which  are  definitely  historical,  and  forbid  modifi- 
cation. "  Of  old  hast  thou  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth ; 
and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands.  They  shall 
perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure  ;  yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax  old 
like  a  garment :  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them,  and 
they  shall  be  changed."  -  In  strains  lofty  as  the  Psalmist's, 
Isaiah  unfolds  the  future.  "  And  all  the  host  of  heaven 
shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together 
as  a  scroll."  ^     "  Lift  up  your  eyes  to  the  heavens,  and  look 

^"Geological  Time,"  p.  i6.       Tsalm  cii.  25,  26,       ■'Isaiah  xx.\iv,  4, 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  29 

upon  the  earth  beneath ;  for  the  heavens  shall  vanish  away 
like  smoke,  and  the  earth  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment,  and 
they  that  dwell  therein  shall  die  in  like  manner :  but  my 
salvation  shall  be  for  ever,  and  my  righteousness  shall  not 
be  abolished."  ^  Although  such  passages  as  these,  taken 
separately,  cannot  be  the  basis  of  any  very  decided  conclu- 
sion literally,  yet  collectively,  and  especially  when  associated 
with  New  Testament  teachings,  they  do  possess  legitimate 
significance  and  weight.  The  saying  of  Jesus  implied  future 
change  when  he  said,  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away."  -  And  have  we  not  all 
been  familiar  from  childhood  Avith  the  impressively  over- 
awing declarations  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  :  ''  But  the 
day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night ;  in  the 
which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and 
the  elements  shall  melt  \\ith  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also,  and 
the  works  that  are  therein,  shall  be  burned  up.  Seeing  then 
tlaat  air  these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  per- 
sons ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness."  ^ 
In  the  no  less  sublime  description  of  the  Apocalyptic  Seer, 
the  fact  of  a  universal  change  is  assumed:  ''And  I  saw 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  :  for  the  first  heaven  and 
the  first  earth  were  passed  away ;  and  there  was  no  more 
sea."  -^ 

If  these  and  similar  descriptions  do  not  foreshadow  great 
physical  revolutions,  language  is  meaningless.  There  is  no 
ambiguity  to  shroud  mistakes.  As  literal,  these  delinea- 
tions must  be  rejected  or  accepted.  There  is  no  middle 
course,  nor  neutral  ground.  Science,  therefore,  if  not  silent, 
must  confirm  or  confute  them.  And  science,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  in  the  conclusion  of  Sir  William  Thomson,  is 

^  Isaiah  li.  6.     -  Matt.  xxiv.  35.      ^  2  Peter  iii.  10.     ^  Rev.  xxi.  r. 


30  BLEND  I  KG  LIGHTS,  [cHAP.  II. 

giving  them  singular  confirmation.  The  oft-repeated  asser- 
tion of  olden  scepticism,  ''All  things  continue  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation,"  ^  has  been  swept  aside. 

New  testimonies  to  the  same  truths  have  of  late  been 
multiplied.  The  heavens  themselves,  apparently  the  stablest 
of  all  existences,  show  very  marvellous  changes.  Stars  long 
known  have  been  lost;  they  have  disappeared  in  the  abysses 
of  space,  and  their  name  alone  remains.  No  later  than  May, 
1866,  the  splendours  of  an  apparently  new  star  in  the  con- 
stellation Corona  Borealis  arrested  the  attention  of  astrono- 
mical students.  Anxiously  watched  by  competent  observers 
in  separate  localities,  its  changes  were  accurately  noted  and 
compared.  There  could  be  no  exaggeration  nor  illusion.  In 
Bimiingham,  Manchester,  Tuam,  Rochester,  London,  Brus- 
sels, Canada  West,  telescopes  were,  without  concert,  turned 
to  it,  and  keen  eyes  were  riveted  on  every  unexpected  phase. 
It  rose  in  its  magnificent  brilliancy;  it  slowly  waned ;  it  dis- 
appeared; it  has  perished,  "as  lesser  things  perished  before." 
Hath  God  smitten  it?  By  what  terrible  catastrophe  has  it 
been  overwhelmed  ?  The  light  which  burst  forth  many  ages 
ago,  has  come  in  its  course  to  us  only  now,  to  remind  us  that 
the  heavens  are  in  the  hands  of  a  l\Tighty  Ruler,  whose  will 
is  sovereign,  and  who  alone  is  unchangeable. 

The  Astronomer  Royal  has  expressed  his  belief  in  the 
burning  of  that  distant  world.  Inflammable  gases,  com- 
bining, it  has  been  supposed,  gave  to  it  the  appearance  by 
which  observers  were  dazzled  and  impressed.  But  with- 
out accepting  or  even  recording  conjectures  as  to  the  details 
of  the  conflagration,  it  is  enough  for  our  argument  that  a 
change  of  such  magnitude  has\  taken  place,  and  that  it  is  one 
of  a  series.  It  proves  that  the  heavens  are  not  so  adjusted 
as  to  be  eternally  and  exactly  in  the  same  state,  and  that  as 

'■ y — 

1  2  Peter  iil  14. 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  3 1 

much  instability  is  now  known  to  exist  as  to  constitute  pre- 
sumptive evidence  on  behalf  of  St.  Peter's  declaration.  The 
eternal  conservation  of  the  universe,  in  its  present  connec- 
tions, can  no  longer  be  held  as  a  fundamental  truth  in 
science.  It  is  a  fundamental  error.  The  possibility  of  the 
earth  being  consumed  by  fire  is  not  disputed.  The  confla- 
gration of  distant  worlds  is  an  unquestioned  fact ;  and  it 
needs  but  a  slight  alteration  in  the  position  of  the  earth,  in 
its  shape,  in  the  direction  of  its  axis,  or  in  the  velocity  of  its 
motion,  to  give  an  entirely  new  character  to  the  globe.  A 
delicate  alteration  in  the  atmosphere  alone,  might  instantly 
render  the  earth  uninhabitable.  "  Under  a  thinner  air,  the 
torrid  zone  might  be  wrapt  in  eternal  snow  ;  under  a  denser 
air,  and  with  different  refracting  powers,  the  earth  and  all 
that  is  therein  might  be  burned  up."  ^ 

In  a  vast  economy  regulated  by  law,  there  may  be,  as 
astronomical  science  teaches,  a  tendency  to  dissolution, 
slow  but  sure,  which  will  produce,  through  the  confusion  and 
overthrow  of  existing  adjustments,  such  amazing  results 
literally  as  the  Bible  has  foretold. 

The  globe  is  carrying  Avithin  itself  volcanic  forces  sufiicient 
to  dislocate  and  overwhelm  its  inhabited  crust,  if  only  the 
balance  of  pressure  and  upheaval  be  in  the  least  destroyed ; 
and  chemistry  has  long  attested  the  facility  of  an  universal 
overthrow  and  conflagration.  The  subtlest  and  most  delicate 
combinations  are  invested  with  such  tremendous  power,  that 
they  require  but  slight  modification  to  ensure  a  literal  fulfil- 
ment of  the  apostolic  prophecy  regarding  the  heavens  passing 
away  "with  a  great  noise,"  and  the  earth  and  its  works  being 
"burnt  up."  There  is  to  be  "dissolution,"  not  annihilation; 
there  is  to  be  a  new  economy,  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 

1  "Reign  of  Law,"  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  p.  53. 


32  BLENDING   I.TGHTS.  [cHAP.  II. 

earth.  The  sublime  announcements  of  St.  Peter  and  of  the 
Apocalyptic  Seer,  so  long  accepted  by  many  apologists  as 
invested  with  merely  poetic  drapery,  and  so  long  sneered  at 
as  sensational  by  rigorous  physicists,  have  been  rescued  from 
misinterpretation.  The  statement  that  there  "shall  be  no 
more  sea,"  can  only  be  ridiculed  by  those  who  are  ignorant  of 
the  truths  which  the  natural  sciences  have  already  evolved 
and  \andicated. 

These  possibilities  might,  of  course,  be  accepted  without 
a  very  strong  probability  of  any  actual  changes  beyond  what 
are  now  transpiring,  and  they  constitute  only  presumptive 
evidence  on  the  side  of  Scripture  ;  but,  in  Sir  William  Thom- 
son's demonstration  of  an  inevitable  change  which  will  render 
this  earth  unfit  for  man's  existence,  unless  there  be  new  opera- 
tions, which  are  impossible  without  the  interposition  of  a 
power  not  now  manifested,  we  have  an  unimpeachable  warrant 
for  the  literal  interposition  of  St.  Peter's  delineation  of  the 
close  of  the  history  of  our  world  as  now  constituted.  It  has 
a  weight  and  an  emphasis  which  no  theological  or  critical 
disquisition  can  ever  possess  ;  and  is  it  not  most  encouraging 
to  find  the  deductions  of  natural  philosophy  becoming  thus 
the  expositors  and  vindicators  of  revealed  truth,  as  they 
fully  aver  all  that  the  Bible  has  announced  regarding  not 
only  the  past,  but  the  future  history  of  the  globe  ?  To 
those  who  have  passed  through  the  jungle-like  speculations 
and  propositions  of  the  olden  atheists,  regarding  an  "infinite 
series,"  and  the  more  recent  metaphysical  reasonings  prose- 
cuted to  prove  the  eternity  of  the  present  system  of  organic 
and  inorganic  beings,  it  must  be  an  unspeakable  relief  on 
coming  forth  beneath  the  clear  sky  of  definite  tnUhs,  to  find 
the  Bible  and  natural  philosophy  blending  their  lights  "  as 
suns  upon  each  other  shining."  That  the  universe  is  not 
eternal,  may  be  held  now  to  be  incontro\ertiblc.     Creation 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  33 

has  been ;  and  questions  as  to  the  date  of  the  beginning  are 
of  comparatively  subordinate  interest.  There  is,  however, 
one  other  subject  so  closely  connected  with  this  part  of  our 
inquiry,  that  it  must  be  examined.  It  is — 
IV. — The  import  of  "  In  the  Beginning." 
Is  this  the  beginning  of  all  beginnings?  or  is  it  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fonnation  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth  out  of 
materials  which  had  already  been  in  existence?  Some  eminent 
Jewish  commentators  deny  that  this  is  the  beginning  of  all 
beginnings;  they  exclude  from  this  sentence  the  idea  of 
origination,  and  they  limit  the  statement  to  the  forming  or 
shaping  of  materials.  ^  They  found  their  conclusion  on  the 
assumption  that  the  "  in  the  beginning"  is,  as  grammarians 
express  it,  in  the  construct  state,  and  that  thus  it  is  limited 
by  some  thing  of  which  it  is  the  beginning.  They  do  not 
admit  that  the  Hebrew  word  Bara  expresses  the  originating 
of  all  creation ;  and  the  question  ultimately  turns  on  the 
greater  or  less  comparative  importance  which  we  attach  to 
the  first  creation  of  matter,  and  to  the  first  adjustment  of  its 
forms  or  the  first  impulse  of  its  laws.  The  relative  value  of 
creating  matter  and  of  ordering  its  structure  and  functions, 
is  an  interesting,  yet  not  a  very  profitable,  subject  of  discus- 
sion. Professor  Tayler  Le\\is  makes  the  creation  of  matter 
the  lesser  work.  "  Taken  as  a  fact,"  he  says,  "  it  is  the 
lowest  in  the  scale  of  the  Divine  works,  if  we  may  be  allowed 
to  make  any  comparisons  among  them.  It  is  simply  an 
exercise  of  the  Divine  strength.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
giving  form  to  matter,  which  is  so  clearly  revealed  as  the 
true  creative  stage,  is  the  work  of  the  Divine  Wisdom,  and 
might  be  supposed  worthy  of  God,  as  an  exercise  of  his  in- 

^  See  Professor  Tayler  Lewis  on  the  Essential  Ideas  of  Creation,  in 
"  Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  pp,  126-130. 

D 


34  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  II. 

finite  intelligence,  even  if  it  had  no  other  than  an  artistic 
end.  The  carrying  these  forms  into  the  region  of  the  moral, 
or  the  impressing  moral  designs  upon  them, — in  other  words, 
building  the  world  as  the  abode  of  life,  and  the  residence  of 
moral  and  spiritual  beings  capable  of  witnessing  and  declar- 
ing the  glory  of  the  Creator, — is  the  work  of  Di\ine  Love. 
In  revising  this  scale  of  dignities,  the  actually  lower  comes 
to  be  regarded  as  the  higher  and  the  greater,  merely  because 
it  is  the  more  remote  from  us."  ^  There  is  considerable 
force  in  this  reasoning,  as  against  those  who  seek  to  displace 
God  from  the  creative  formation  or  evolution  of  the  heaven 
and  the  earth,  but  it  has  little  interest  for  the  sincere  Bible 
student ;  because,  between  the  creation  of  matter  and  its 
harmonious  and  productive  evolutions,  we  find  it  hard  to 
establish  values.  Attributes  that  are  infinite  —  power, 
wisdom,  love — have  to  be  associated  ^v^th  both,  and  in  their 
light  all  distinctions  are  lost.  To  describe  the  building  of 
the  world  as  merely  preparatory  to  its  being  made  the 
abode  of  moral  and  spiritual  existences,  does  not  elucidate 
the  subject  nor  lessen  difficulties,  because  the  very  presence 
of  these  moral  beings  betokens  of  itself  prior  creative  action. 
While  conflicting  criticisms  have  been  pressed  on  us  as  to 
the  special  import  of  the  term  bara^  create,  the  greater  weight 
of  scholarship  is,  I  think,  on  the  side  of  its  expressing  the 
origination  of  this  universe — that  is,  the  beginning  of  all  be- 
ginnings, the  creation  out  of  nothing.  "  To  the  idea  of  a 
creation  out  of  nothing,"  says  Hiivernick,  "  no  ancient  cos- 
mogony has  ever  risen,  neither  in  the  myths  nor  the  philoso- 
phemes  of  the  ancient  world.  By  the  peculiarity  that  the 
biblical  cosmogony  has,  for  its  flmdamental  idea,  a  crcafion 
from  7iot/iing,  it  is  placed  in  a  category  distinct   from   all 


'  "Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,''  p.  129. 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  3S 


Other  myths.  Hence,  recently,  there  appears  above  all 
things  a  disposition  to  deny  that  this  is  contained  in  the 
history  of  creation,  but  certainly  without  success."  In  the 
commencement  of  the  Gospel  by  St.  John,  we  have  proof 
that  this  is  the  beginning  of  all  beginnings,  when  it  is  said, 
"  In  the  beginning  Avas  the  Word :  the  same  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God :  all  things  were  made  by  Him." 

A  subsidiary  yet  substantial  argimient  for  the  beginning  in 
Gei-tesis  being  the  commencement  of  beginnings,  lies  in  the 
special  use  of  the  term  bara  as  expressive  of  a  creative  act.  It 
is  remarkable  that  this  term  is  in  Scripture  invariably  applied 
to  God,  and  never  to  any  created  being.  God  was  knoAvn  by 
the  Israelites  as  Bore,  Creator.  Creation  is  a  divine  act,— 
something  performed  indisputably  by  God  alone ;  and  the 
question  has  lately  been  limited  to  creation  out  of  nothing,  or 
a  creation  of  something  new  out  of  what  before  existed.  It 
is  admitted  that  Yatzar,  he  formed,  and  Asah,  he  made,  may 
be  used  as  applicable  to  men  ;  and  that  Bara,  he  created, 
is  alone  applicable  to  God,  but  it  is  said  that  it  does  not 
necessarily  express  creation  out  of  nothing.  Scholars  do  not 
now  insist  on  this  exclusive  meaning.  They  do  not  assert 
that  it  nner  has  such  a  meaning ;  yet  it  is  the  only  Hebrew 
term  which  expresses  this  idea,  and  we  have  to  look  to 
the  context  and  connections  of  the  term  rather  than  to 
the  term  itself,  to  determine  conclusively  which  view  should 
be  taken.  "  But  that  in  the  first  verse,"  says  Gesenius  in  his 
Thesaurus,  *'  the  first  creation  of  the  world  out  of  nothiiig, 
and  in  a  rude  and  unformed  state,  and  in  the  remainder  of  the 
first  chapter  the  elaboration  and  disposition  of  the  recently 
created  mass  are  set  forth,  is  proved  by  the  connections  of 
things  in  the  whole  of  this  chapter;"  and  he  adduces  in  sup- 
port of  this  opinion,  the  conclusions  of  Jewish  Rabbis. 
You  may  be  perplexed  by  finding  that  so  distinguished 


36  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  II. 

a  ^vriter  as  Max  Muller  refuses  the  conclusions  of  such 
scholars  as  Gesenius,  at  least  on  the  grounds  on  which  they 
rest  them,  and  approvingly  quotes  those  who  regard  bara 
as  properly  meaning  to  create  out  oi  pre-existing  materials ; 
but  let  it  be  observed  that  he  does  not  positively  preclude 
its  meaning  in  any  circumstances  to  create  out  of  nothing.^ 
As  bara,  in  its  most  recondite  application,  can  refer  only 
o?ice  to  creation  as  originating  matter,  and  aftenvards,  of 
course,  only  to  what  is  evolved  as  new  from  existing  things, 
its  special  meaning  must  be  detennined  by  its  connections. 
The  peculiar  description.  In  t/ie  beginning,  gives  emphasis  also 
to  the  created  which  follows,  as  separating  what  has  begun 
to  be  from  the  Creator  who  is  eternal ;  and  it  may  be  held 
as  establishing  historically  the  idea  of  an  absolute  beginning 
in  time.  Creation  can  only  be  understood  aright  as  con- 
nected with  the  will  of  a  personal  God.  Apart  from  God, 
creation  by  law  is  utterly  unintelligible.  Origination,  or  im- 
mediate creation,  and  development  or  forming  in  mediate 
creation,  cannot  be  studied  satisfactorily  without  reference 
to  the  will,  the  wisdom,  and  the  power  of  the  e\erlasting 
Ruler. 

But  it  would  be  unwise  to  dogmatise  regarding  the  absolute- 
ness of  this  beginning,  as  the  first  of  all  beginnings.  In  the 
measureless  past,  in  which  millions  on  milHons  of  ages  have 
sunk  and  have  been  lost,  as  pebbles  in  the  ocean,  there  may 
have  been  other  universes  before  ours,  which  have  histori- 
cally nm  their  course,  fulfilled  their  ends,  and  perished. 
Brought   out  of  nothing,  they  may  have  again   been  rc- 


'  "  Chips  from  a  Gemian  Workshop,"  vol.  I.,  p.  135. 
Note. — Interesting  statistic.il  details  regarding  the  use  and  meaning 
of  the  terms  which  are  translated, — create,  form,  and  make, — arc  given 
by  Archdeacon   Pratt,  in  his  most  admirable   work,    '^Scripture  and 
Science  not  at  Variance,"  pp.  47,  48.     Sixth  Edition, 


CHAP.  II.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  37 

duced  to  nothing.  The  fact  is  conceivable,  though  not  the 
process,  unless  we  assume  the  eternity  of  matter ;  or  that 
when  God  has  created  a  world  out  of  nothing,  He  has  done 
what  he  cannot  undo.  Universes  may  have  come,  run  their 
history,  and  gone.  Their  histories  may  be  Creation-seasons. 
Nor  can  we  speak  absolutely  of  ours  being  the  beginning  of 
all  beginnings ;  because  in  other  spheres  of  measureless 
SPACE,  which  no  telescope  can  ever  reach,  there  may  be 
other  universes  with  earlier  beginnings  than  ours.  It  is 
enough  for  us  to  know  that  this,  our  universe,  our  heaven 
and  earth,  was  created  by  God ;  and  that  the  first  statement 
in  Genesis  proclaims  the  beginning  of  all  beginnings  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  our  globe.  And  we  do  no  violence 
to  reason  when  we  assume  that  He  who  made  one  world  in 
space,  made  all  worlds  in  space  \  that  He  who  made  one 
world  in  time,  made  all  worlds  in  time ;  and  that  He  who 
gave  matter  its  forms,  gave  it  also  its  origination,  or  that 
which  is  the  ground  of  all  its  forms.  ^ 

^  See  "  Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis." 


CHAPTER  III. 

Tlu  First  Chapter  of  Genesis— The  Origin  of  Light— Its 
existence  before  the  Sun  7i>as  made  separately  visible — 
The  Origination  of  Life — The  Creative  Days. 

It  is  not  for  the  refutation  of  objectors  merely,  and  for  the  conviction 
of  doubters,  that  it  is  worth  while  to  study  the  two  volumes, — that  of 
nature  and  that  of  revelation, — which  Providence  has  opened  before  us, 
but  because  it  is  both  profitable  and  gratifying  to  a  well-constituted 
mind,  to  trace  in  each  of  them  the  evident  handwriting  of  Him,  the 
Divine  author  of  both. — Archbishop  Whately. 

I.  The  Origination  of  Light. 

THE  grandeur  and  impressiveness  of  the  description  in 
the  Bible  of  the  origin  of  Hght,  and  of  the  introduc- 
tion  of  the    sun   and   moon,    it   is   almost   impossible   to 
exaggerate.      In  his  treatise  on  the  Sublime,  the  Roman 
poet,  Longinus,  has  quoted,  with  the  highest  admiration, 
"  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."     Familiar  as  we 
are  mth  the  description,  it  is  necessary  to  repeat  it.     "  And 
God  saw  the  light  that  it  was  good ;    and  God  divided  the 
light  from  the  darkness.     And  God  called  the  light  Day,  and 
the  darkness  he  called  Night.     And  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were  the  first  day.     .     .     .     And  God  said.  Let 
there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  to  divide  the  day 
from  the  night ;    and  let  them  be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons, 
d  for  days,  and  years  ;   and  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the 
nent  of  heaven  to  give  light  upon  the  earth :    and  it 
Note.— L And  God  made  two  great  lights  :   the  greater  light 
of  the  terms  whday,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night ;   he 
by  Archdeacon  P...  ^j^^      p^^^  Qq,^  get  tliem  in  the  firmament 
Science  not  at  Variam      ....  ,  ,,  ,  .         ^ 

give  light  upon  the  earth,  and  to  rule  over 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  39 

the  day  and  over  the  night,  and  to  divide  the  Hght  from  the 
darkness  ;  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good.  And  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  fourth  day." 

The  sublimity  of  this  brief  description  has  often  been  lost 
amid  the  sneers  of  the  Infidel  and  the  Atheist.  "  How 
could  there  be  light  before  the  sun?"'  was  one  of  the 
triumphant  questions  which  Voltaire  and  his  followers  rarely 
failed  to  press  upon  the  Bible  student.  There  was  no  escape 
from  the  difficulty ;  for  nothing  could  be  clearer  than  the 
fact  that  the  Bible  did  commit  itself  to  the  statement  that 
light  existed  before  the  sun  appeared.  It  does  not  say,  ob- 
serve, before  the  sun-mass  or  sun-elements  existed;  but  it 
does  assert  that  there  was  light  before  the  sim  shone  forth  in 
its  \-isible  and  appointed  relation  to  this  world.  The  state- 
ment was  too  exphcit  and  too  direct  to  admit  of  any 
satisfactory  explanation  beyond  what  the  fair  reading  of  the 
description  itself  allowed  : — namely,  that  there  was  light 
before  the  sun  was  visible ;  and  this  supposition, — for  the 
state  of  science  admitted  of  nothing  more, — was  invariably 
denounced  as  a  weak,  if  not  a  mischievous,  theological 
invention.  Many  scorned  it  as  a  superstitious  behef,  or  the 
paltry  resource  of  controversial  despair. 

But  the  myster)'  has  been  receding  as  discovery  has 
advanced.  That  there  may  be  light  without  the  \-isible  sun, 
is  now  admitted ;  and  it  is  not  going  farther  than  the  facts 
warrant,  to  suppose  that  hght  of  old  did  thus  exist ;  not, 
perhaps,  as  absolutely  separable  firom  the  sun,  but  as  closely 
coimected  ^\'ith  its.  historj-.  AMiat  was  hidden  is  made 
manifest,  as  explanator)^  facts  are  being  placed  together.  The 
sim-mass  is  itseh'  dark,  and  aroimd  it  is  a  wondrous  sphere  of 
light  that  is  perpetually  exhibiting  phenomena  which  it  does 
not  he  within  our  plan  to  describe  minutely.  It  is  enough  to 
remark  that  there  have  been  discovered  circles  or  spheres  of 


4o  BLENDING   LICHTS.  [cHAP.  III. 

light  widening  as  they  recede  from  the  central  mass,  which 
ages  ago  have  apparently  been  so  wide  as  to  bring  our  globe 
within  their  compass.  When  it  was  said,  "  Let  there  be 
light,"  there  was  not  so  much  a  new  creation  as  the  evolution 
of  a  new  fact,  or  rather  the  presentation  of  a  new  condition 
of  things,  in  the  already  created  heaven  and  earth.  Originally 
darkness  reigned,  and  then  light  was  summoned  into  exist- 
ence. "God  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,"  ^ 
wrote  St.  Paul  in  obvious  reference  to  this  passage.  The 
light  appears  to  have  been  so  diffused  as  to  bring  to  our 
earth,  through  subsequent  ages,  such  supplies  as  may  have 
been  best  adapted  to  whatever  plant  or  animal  life  may  have 
then  existed.  This  view  is  sustained  by  recent  inferences 
to  which  observation  of  the  sun  has  led ;  and  which  may 
render  unnecessary  the  common  supposition,  that  while  the 
sun  existed  in  its  present  form,  with  all  its  present  forces,  its 
light  was  too  much  lost  in  the  vapours  which  hovered  over 
the  earth  to  admit  of  its  being  visible,  as  it  is  now.  That 
vapours  obscured  the  light,  may  be  probable ;  but  the  light, 
it  would  seem,  was  diffused  under  conditions  different  from 
those  which  now  obtain,  until  the  fourth  day,  when  the  sun 
was  made  separately  visible.'"-    As  light,  or  rather  a  luminous 

^  2  Cor.  iv.  6. 

^  Mr.  Proctor,  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society, 
in  summing  up  the  more  striking  results  obtained  by  the  observations  of 
the  late  Solar  Eclipse,  has  confirmed  this  inference  :  "The  observation 
made  by  Liais  would  tend  to  show  that,  as  has  been  long  suspected,  the 
Zodiacal  light  is  sunlight  reflected  fromcosmical  matter  travelling  continu- 
ally round  the  sun  (for  we  could  not  expect  the  solar  dark  lines  to  appear 
in  so  faint  a  spectrum).  If  this  is  the  case,  the  radiated  corona  cannot 
but  be  regarded  as  only  the  innennost  part — the  core,  so  to  speak — of  the 
Zodiacal  region.  Hence,  we  should  be  led  to  recognise  the  Existence 
OF  Enveloi'E  akter  Envelope  around  the  Sun,  until  czcn  the  vast 
distance  at  which  our  earth  travels  is  reached  or  oi'crpast. "  * '  The  Late  Solar 
Eclipse,"  by  Richard  A.  Proctor,  B.  A.   Good  Words,  June,  1872,  pp,  423. 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  41 

substance,  appears  to  have  been  diffused  beyond  the  orbit  of 
our  earth,  there  must,  therefore,  have  been  a  period  without 
darkness.  But  when  the  circumference  of  the  envelope  or 
luminous  substance  was  contracted  within  the  orbit  of  the 
earth,  there  was  darkness  alternating  with  the  light, — that  is, 
of  course,  supposing  the  earth  then  as  now  revolved  on  its 
axis.  This  would  give  the  first  day,  evening  and  morning ; 
— evening,  because  the  first  contraction  of  the  light  within 
the  earth's  path  gave  such  darkness  as  may  have  subsisted 
us.  "And  God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness." 
Other  changes  followed  by  which  the  waters,  the  land,  and 
the  atmosphere  were  separated ;  and  when  these  had  been 
completed,  there  appeared  vegetation  in  varied  forms.  The 
light,  in  all  likelihood,  while  passing  into  its  present  condi- 
tions, shone  through  vapours  which  also  gradually  changed, 
until  the  sun  and  moon  appeared  in  fulfilment  of  the  Divine 
purpose;  the  one  to  rule  the  day,  the  other  to  rule  the 
night.  The  chief  difficulty  lies  in  ascertaining  the  probable 
extent  of  the  light  and  its  characteristics  in  that  long 
cosmical  history  of  which,  as  yet,  only  glimpses  have  been 
obtained ;  but  these  glimpses  are  so  much  in  harmony  with 
the  sacred  page,  that  the  arrogant  charges  of  ignorance,  once 
so  freely  made,  have  almost  ceased. 

One  or  two  facts  may  be  mentioned,  as  confirming  the 
more  recent  elucidation  of  this  Scripture  statement. 
Humboldt,  in  describing  the  beauty  of  the  Zodiacal  light, 
has  said — "  The  Zodiacal  light,  which  rises  in  a  pyramidal 
form,  and  constantly  contributes  by  its  mild  radiance  to 
the  external  beauty  of  the  tropical  nights,  is  either  a  vast 
nebulous  ring,  rotating  between  the  Earth  and  Mars,  or, 
less  probably,  the  exterior  stratum  of  the  solar  atmosphere."  ^ 

^  Cosmos,  vol.  I.,  p,  69. 


42  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  III. 

**  For  the  last  three  or  four  nights,  between  io°  and  14° 
of  north  latitude,  the  Zodiacal  light  has  appeared  ^nth 
a  magnificence  which  I  have  never  before  seen.  Long 
narrow  clouds  scattered  over  the  lovely  azure  of  the  sky, 
appeared  low  do^^Tl  in  the  horizon,  as  if  in  front  of  a  golden 
curtain,  while  bright  varied  tints  played  from  time  to  time 
on  the  higher  clouds ;  it  seemed  a  second  sunset.  Towards 
that  side  of  the  heavens,  the  diffused  light  appeared  almost 
equal  to  that  of  the  moon  in  her  first  quarter."  Not  less 
striking  is  his  description  in  another  passage,  of  a  cloud 
well  known  to  astronomers,  passing  over  the  heavens  lumin- 
ously and  with  great  rapidity.  "  The  light  of  the  stars  being 
thus  utterly  shut  out,"  he  says,  "  one  might  suppose  that 
surrounding  objects  would  become,  if  possible,  more  mdis- 
tinct.  But  no  :  what  was  formerly  invisible  can  now  be 
clearly  seen ;  not  because  of  lights  from  the  earth  being 
reflected  back  by  a  cloud,  for  very  often  there  are  none ; 
but  in  virtue  of  the  light  of  the  cloud  itself  which,  however 
faint,  is  yet  a  similitude  of  the  dazzling  light  of  the  sun. 
The  existence  of  this  illuminating  power,  though  apparently 
in  its  debilitude,  we  discover  also,  in  appearance  at  least, 
among  other  orbs." 

While  these  facts  prove  the  existence  of  light  vvithout  the 
sun  being  visible,  it  may  be  urged  that  the  light  spoken  of 
in  Genesis  not  only  made  day  and  night,  but  it  must  have 
been  sufiicient  to  sustain  life.  To  suppose  that  it  was 
adequate  for  this  end,  involves  no  violent  hypothesis,  for 
neither  plant  nor  animal  life  is  spoken  of  until  there  has 
been  a  separation  of  land  and  water.  In  the  earlier  and 
more  recent  geological  ages,  the  heat  was  doubtless  greater 
than  it  is  now ;  and  this,  taken  in  connection  with  a  sur- 
rounding vaporous  atmosphere,  and  with  such  light  as 
existed,  may  have  conduced  to  the  development  of  what- 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  43 


ever  plant-fomis  then  prevailed.  Difficulty  in  entertaining 
this  view  has  been  greatly  lessened  by  the  fact,  that  not  only 
plant  but  animal  life  may  be  sustained  under  conditions  of 
feeble  light,  great  pressure,  and  intense  heat,  which  were  not 
long  ago  deemed  incredible. 

A  critical  examination  of  the  phraseology  of  the  Bible 
regarding  the  light,  confirms  this  view.      The  language  is 
precise,  discriminative,  and   significant.      Moses  uses  one 
word  for  light  in  the  third  and  fourth  verses,  and  another 
word  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth.     In  the  first  instance, 
when  he  speaks  of  light  essentially  as  light,  or  as  a  mere 
existence,  he  uses  the  term  Or ;  but  in  the  second  instance, 
when  he  refers  rather  to  one  of  its  practical  purposes,  he 
uses  the  term  Maor— the  instrument  or  the  visible  source 
of  light  to  our  earth  and  its  system.     It  is  "  to  give  light 
upon  the  earth,"  v.  15.      That  seems  to  be  worth  noting. 
It  is  not  a  haphazard  but  a  deliberate  distinction,  for  there 
is  a  similar  discrimination  of  terms  between  the  "created" 
of  the  first  verse,  and  the  "made"  of  the  sixteenth  verse. 
"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth," 
but    "God  made  two  great  lights."      In  the  one  we  have 
''bara"  create;  in  the  other,  asah,  he  made  or  fashioned  or 
appointed,  of  materials  or  objects  already  created  or  exist- 
ent, the  sun  to  be  a  light  bearer  ;  and  so  also  the  moon, 
which  is  known  not  to  have  light  either  in  itself  or  imme- 
diately surrounding  it.     The  Creator  adopted  and  employed 
for  this  purpose  the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  may  have  intro- 
duced, for  the  first  time,  such  relations  as  now  exist  betAveen 
them  and  our  atmosphere.     Adopting  the  latitude  of  inter- 
pretation which  is  warranted  by  the  use  of  the  distinct  terms, 
bara  and  asd/i,  we  suggest  another  view.      When,  after  the 
deluge,  God  "  Set  his  bow  in  the  cloud  to  be  a  token  that 
the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to  destroy  the 


44  BLEND  IXC   LIGHTS.  [CHAT.  HI. 

earth,"  it  is  not  necessarily  an  inference  that  the  rainbow 
had  never  before  appeared.  As  all  the  physical  conditions 
on  which  it  depends  had  existed  during  man's  history,  it 
may  have  often  been  visible ;  and,  assuming  that  it  was  so, 
it  only  received  a  new  historical  connection  when  it  was 
made  a  "  token  "  of  the  Covenant.  In  the  same  manner 
the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  may  ha\-e  been  visible  long  be- 
fore they  were  appointed  to  be  "  for  signs  and  for  seasons," 
and  to  fulfil  a  new  historical  relation  to  man,  as  they  ever 
afterAvards  rule  his  day  and  night. 

Such  critical  statements  cannot  be  pushed  aside  as  an 
ingenious  attempt,  by  theologians,  to  save  the  Scripture 
record  from  the  consequences  of  scientific  research.  We 
are  not  ashamed  of  them.  They  have  been  recently  con- 
firmed, almost  to  the  very  letter,  by  the  remarkable  conclu- 
sions of  Sir  William  Thomson  as  to  historical  changes  in  the 
constitution  of  the  sun.  He  has  demonstrated  that  the  light 
which  is  emanating  from  that  central  body,  could  not  have 
always  been  coming  from  it ;  because,  for  ages,  the  condi- 
tions of  the  sun-mass  did  not  admit  of  it.  At  a  compara- 
tively recent  period,  historically,  the  sun  began  to  shed  its 
splendour  through  space  under  its  present  aspects.  Science 
has  thus  already  dispelled,  to  a  large  extent,  the  difficul- 
ties which  beset  the  literal  interpretation  as  to  light,  and 
has  checked  intolerant  infidelity.  What  has  been  achieved 
is  specially  encouraging  to  those  who  have  accepted  the 
Bible  as  their  guide.  It  is  of  the  utmost  value.  No  more 
striking  confirmation  of  the  scientific  accuracy  of  the  Scripture 
record  has  of  late  been  given,  than  that  afforded  by  recent 
investigations  of  the  present  condition  and  past  history  of 
the  sun.  While  the  creation  of  the  sun,  with  the  earth  and 
the  other  heavenly  bodies,  is  intimated  in  the  first  verse,  it  is 
not  imtil  ages  had  elapsed  that  the  sun  itself,  as  a  distinct 


CHAP.  III.]  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  45 

light-giving  body,  was  adapted  to  our  globe,  and  aftenvards 
connected  with  the  history  of  the  human  race.  Surely  these 
remarkable  confinnations  which  natural  philosophy,  with 
unintentional  directness,  is  bringing  to  the  Word  of  God, 
may  well  evoke  our  gratitude  and  deepen  our  "sense  of 
responsibility. 

II. — The  Origination  of  Life  is  another  fact  which 
science,  as  well  as  Scripture,  has  connected  with  the  hand 
of  the  great  Creator. 

It  is  after  the  introduction  of  light,  after  the  separation  of 
the  land  from  the  water,  and  after  the  globe  had  received 
its  encircling  atmosphere,  that  life  was  introduced.  Geology 
confirms  this.  It  has  been  clearly  proved  that  life,  in  the 
geological  history  of  the  globe,  so  far  from  being  of  eternal 
duration,  has  had  a  comparatively  recent  origin.  Reliable 
testimony  is  abundant,  and  might  be  largely  adduced. 
"  The  infinite  series  of  the  atheists  of  former  times,"  says 
Hugh  Miller,  "  can  have  no  place  in  modern  science :  all 
organic  existences,  recent  or  extinct,  vegetable  or  animal, 
have  had  their  beginning ; — there  was  a  time  when  they  were 
not."  ^  The  inference  of  the  geologist  has  been  confirmed 
by  the  demonstration  of  the  natural  philosopher.  Sir 
William  Thomson  has  dissipated  all  speculation  regarding 
an  "infinite  series"  of  life-forms,  by  proving,  as  we  have 
already  stated,  that  they  could  not  extend  over  "  millions  of 
millions  of  years,"  because,  assuming  that  the  heat  has  been 
uniformly  conducted  out  of  the  earth,  as  it  is  now,  it  must 
have  been  so  intense,  within  a  comparatively  limited  period, 
as  to  be  capable  of  melting  a  mass  of  rock  equal  to  the  bulk 
of  the  whole  earth. 

Life  has  its  secrets.     Its  beginning  is  with  God.      He 


^  "Testimony  of  the  Rocks,"  p.  197. 


46  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  III. 

is  the  self-existent  Life.  He  is  the  Lord  and  giver  of  Ufe. 
His  uncreated  Hfe  passeth  knowledge.  It  is  vain  to  inquire 
when  did  life,  as  separate  from  Him,  begin  to  be  ?  and  what 
its  forms,  angelic  or  archangelic  ?  We  stand  helpless  before 
insoluble  problems.  We  are  shadowed  by  inscrutable  mys- 
tery. Alike  in  its  lowest  and  highest  forms,  life  is  in  Scrip- 
ture connected  with  God's  hand.  Vital  force  is  not  the 
result  of  inorganic  matter.  It  controls  matter ;  it  subordin- 
ates its  elements  to  its  own  expansion  and  growth.  By  its 
action,  chemical  and  mechanical  forces  are  modified  or  sus- 
pended. In  the  laboratory  of  nature,  no  one  has  ever 
detected  the  evolution  of  life  from  either  inorganic  or  dead 
matter.  Professor  Huxley  has  ingeniously  made  what  he 
calls  protoplasm  "  the  formal  basis  of  life.  It  is  the  clay  of 
the  potter,"  he  says,  "  which,  bake  it  and  paint  as  he  will, 
remains  clay,  separated  by  artifice,  and  not  by  nature,  from 
the  commonest  brick  or  sun-dried  clod ;  thus  it  becomes 
clear  that  living  powers  are  cognate,  and  that  all  li\'ing  fonns 
are  fundamentally  of  one  character."  ^  But  this  explanation 
cannot  be  accepted  as  removing  difficulties  regarding  the 
origin  or  "  basis  of  life."  Protoplasm  is  not  uniform ;  it  is 
not  chemically  one.  It  varies  in  difterent  plants  and  ani- 
mals. "  For  the  protoplasm  of  the  worm,  we  must  go  to  tlie 
worm  ;  and  for  that  of  the  toadstool,  to  the  toadstool.  In 
fact,  if  all  living  beings  came  from  protoplasm,  it  is  quite  as 
certain  that  but  for  living  beings  protoplasm  would  disap- 
pear." -'  Thus,  the  difficulty  is  not  solved,  nor  even  lessened ; 
and  the  questions  still  come  to  be  answered,  whence  proto- 
plasm? whence  its  varieties?  and  whence  Life?  Nor  is 
the  difficulty  removed  by  the  "cell"  system,  on  which  some 
German  histologists  have  rested  with  so  much  confidence. 

^  "Physical  Basis  of  Life — L«y  Sermons,"  p.  129,  3rcl  edilion. 
"  "  As  Regards  Protoplasm,"  by  Dr.  .Stirling. 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  47 


Admitting  that  cells  may  be  self-complete  organisms,  moving, 
growing,  reproducing  themselves ;  and  also  that  "  brain  cells 
only  generate  brain  cells, — and  bone,  bone  cells ; "  we  come 
no  nearer  the  origin  of  life.     If  cells  can  come  only  from 
cells,  whence   the   first   cell    or  the   first  series?      In   Dr. 
Bastian's  recent  elaborate  work,  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  show  the  ^^  Beginning  of  Life  "  but  in  such  a  way,  and  to 
such  an  extent,  that  his   principles,  if  valid,  should  have 
completely  altered  ere  now  the  whole  complexion  of  the 
LiFE-history   and   condition   of  our   globe.      M.    Pasteur, 
whose  name  is  honoured  wherever  exactness  in  scientific 
research  is  valued,  by  a  series  of  experiments,  of  which 
Professor  Huxley  has  said,  "  They  appear  to  me  now,  as 
they  did  seven  years  ago,  to  be  models  of  accurate  experi- 
mentation and  logical  reasoning,"  has  proved  that  there  is  no 
evidence  whatever  that  living  organisms  can  come  forth  by 
spontaneous  generation  from  unorganised  matter.     At  the 
recent  meeting  of  the  British   Association  in    Edinburgh, 
it  was  an   accepted   truth  that  "life  can   come  only  from 
life."     Darwin  himself  has  admitted  this  when  he  traces  the 
commencement  of  all  animated  existences  to  the  Creator 
having  breathed  life  into  two  or  three   simple  forms.     The 
now  almost  universal  acknowledgment  that  life  has  its  origin 
from  God  alone,  is  another  triumph  of  science  on  the  side  of 
Scripture. 

In  the  Bible,  the  historical  record  of  creation  has  a  scien- 
tific basis;  but  so  great  is  its  prevailing  simplicity  of  statement, 
that  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the  fact.  Instead  of  commencing 
his  record  with  the  introduction  of  Man  as  the  being 
most  prominent  and  the  most  influential, — as  the  being, 
indeed,  whom  unguided  reason  most  naturally  would  have 
first  introduced, — Moses  tells  us  that  the  loK'est  forms  of  life 
commenced  to  exist — plants  first,  animals  next.     This  is  as 


48  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  III. 

it  ought  to  be.  Plants  drawing  their  nourishment  from  inor- 
ganic substances,  were  first  created ;  and,  as  animals  could 
live  only  on  plants  or  animals,  they  were  next  introduced. 
"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fmit  after  his  kind, 
whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so." 
Then  follows,  in  the  succession  of  life,  the  origination  of 
animals  in  the  sea  and  on  the  land.  Vegetable  forms,  as 
they  spread,  act  on  the  carefully-prepared  materials  in  the 
soil  and  the  water  ;  they  manufacture  food  for  themselves, 
and,  storing  it  up  in  their  own  fabric,  they  provide  support 
for  the  succeeding  animals.  The  Bible  record  thus  harmo- 
nises with  that  which  science  has  shown  to  be  necessary. 
Whence  all  this  accuracy  ?  Can  it  possibly  be  the  outcome 
of  chance  ? 

There  is  another  significant  reference  in  the  nth  and  12th 
verses  to  one  of  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  botani- 
cal science,  which  may  be  legitimately  acknowledged.  "And 
God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding 
seed,  and  the  fmit  tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind,  whose 
seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so.  And  the 
earth  brought  forth  grass,  and  herb  yielding  seed  after  his 
kind,  and  the  tree  yielding  fmit,  whose  seed  7i>as  in  itself, 
after  his  kind  :  and  God  saw  that  it  ^cas  good."  The  brief 
description  is  repeated  with  emphasis,  as  if  it  were  intended 
to  be  noticed.  Its  aptness,  as  related  to  botanical  science, 
>vill  be  acknowledged  even  by  those  who  reflise  to  admit 
otherwise  its  importance.  \\\\\\c  the  Linna^an  system  of 
classification  according  to  distinctions  in  the  flower,  was 
brought  as  near  perfection  as  possible,  and  ser\ed  useful 
ends,  it  was  felt  to  be  inadequate,  and  in  some  degree  un- 
scientific. Botanists  strove  to  establish  a  more  natural 
method,  and  they  have  succeeded  by  making  the  character 


CHAP.  III.]  BT.Eh'DTNG  LIGHTS.  49 

of  the  seeds  and  other  affinities  of  structure  the  basis  of 
classification.  This  was  found  to  be  so  satisfactory,  that  not 
long  ago  it  was  regarded  as  another  trophy  of  science.  It 
was,  indeed,  a  new  height  gained,  or  rather  an  old  one 
reached ;  for  Moses  was  seated  there  with  that  very  principle 
written  on  his  scroll,  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago. 
His  distinctions  are  the  same  ;  plants  are  classified  by  him 
according  to  their  "  seed "  and  " kind"  or  structure ;  he  in- 
timates a  basis  which  is  sufficient  for  every  natural  division, 
by  whatever  route  it  may  be  reached,  whether  by  the 
elementary,  the  nutritive,  or  the  reproductive  function,  and 
to  which  the  labours  of  Jussieu,  De  CandoUe,  Endlicher, 
Lindley,  and  others,  have  added  nothing  essentially  new. 

III. — The  Creative  Days. 

It  is  almost  impossible,  in  studying  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  to  escape  the  bewildering  confusion  which  con- 
flicting interpretations  as  to  the  days  have  created.  While 
on  the  other  questions.  Christian  students  and  sceptics  or 
infidels  are  ranged  on  opposite  sides,  the  differences  on 
this  question  are  chiefly  among  Christian  interpreters  them- 
selves. As  they  expound  and  defend  their  respective 
opinions,  they  at  first  foster  the  prevailing  conflision  ;  but 
this  is  generally  done  with  so  much  of  genial  interest  in  one 
another's  solution  of  acknowledged  difficulties,  that  the  con- 
flict has  at  last  lost  much  of  its  keenness.  The  view  that 
satisfies  one,  is  not  acceptable  to  another  ;  some  regard  the 
days  in  one  light,  some  prefer  a  difterent  interpretation,  and 
others  accept  a  modification  of  both.  We  are  not  in 
circumstances  to  insist  rigorously  on  any  one  of  the 
ordinary  interpretations  ;  all  that  we  regard  as  at  pre- 
sent incumbent  on  us,  is  to  explain  what  seems  to  us 
most  consistent  with  the  tenor  of  Scripture  and  the  teach- 
ing of  science.     While  doing  this,  we  shall  state  some  of  the 

E 


50  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  III. 

views  with  which  accomplished  Cliristian  students  of  science 
have  been  satisfied.  Their  differences  of  interpretation 
are  not  to  be  held  as  expressing  antagonism  to  the"  Bible. 
It  is  unfair  and  illogical  to  conclude  from  the  existence  of 
these  differences  that  all  of  them  are  erroneous,  and  to  assume, 
because  of  them,  "  that  the  Mosaic  account  itself  is  untrue." 
Opponents  commonly  "pass  by  the  se\eral  points  in  which  the 
interpreters  concur,  viz.,  that  the  account  in  Genesis  is  true ; 
that  it  was  communicated  to  the  writer  by  inspiration,  that  it 
teaches  that  matter  is  not  eternal,  that  God  created  matter 
in  the  beginning ;  that  the  beginning  may  have  been,  and 
probably  was,  countless  ages  ago  ;  that  the  document  de- 
scribes a  creation  which  was  distributed  over  six  portions  ; 
that  man  was  created  out  of  the  dust  in  the  sixth  period ; 
that  the  Sabbath  was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  man  in 
commemoration  of  this  work."  And  they  eagerly  press 
attention  on  the  points  about  which  they  dififer ;  but  they 
"  are  points  which  affect  the  explicitness  of  the  narrative, 
not  its  truth."  ^ 

Those  theories  have  not  found  much  acceptance  which  have 
attempted  to  explain  the  statements  as  to  days,  by  visions  or 
by  the  drapery  only  of  poetic  diction.  The  first  chapter 
of  Genesis  is  so  explicit  and  so  direct,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  its  literal  character  can  remain  unobserved. 
Those wlio  regard  tlie  days  whether  as  periods  or  natural  da}s, 
accept  the  literal  or  historical  character  of  the  chapter,  and 
differ  only  as  to  the  length  of  the  time  in  which  the  specified 
changes  took  place. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remind  you  that  the  Bible  does 
not  give  any  evidence  as  to  the  date  of  the  beginning. 
"  The  writings  of  Moses  do  not  fix  the  antiquity  of  the 

'  "  Scripture  mid  Science  not  at  Variance. "     Sixth  edition,  p.  54. 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  5I 

globe,"  said  Chalmers,  when  geology  was  yet  in  its  infancy. 
He  held  that  between  the  first  verse,  announcing  a  beginning, 
and  what  follows  as  to  the  work  of  the  days,  there  was  a 
period  immeasurable  by  us,  in  w^hich  all  the  changes  were 
.evolved  which  rendered  the  globe  habitable  by  man.     This 
long  unmeasured  interval  is  admitted  by  both  classes  of 
interpreters.    The  MTiter  who  has  given  greatest  definiteness  to 
the  opinion  that  the  days  were  not  natural  days,  but  days 
embracing  many  thousands  of  years,  is  Hugh  Miller ;  and 
the  most  powerful  advocate  of  the  days  as  days  of  ordinary 
length,  is  Archdeacon  Pratt.      Hugh  Miller  assumes  that 
each  day  not  only  represented  an  age  of  enormous  duration, 
but  gave  scope  for  the  growth  and  life  of  all  those  animals 
and  plants  with  which,  as  fossils,  the  strata  of  the  globe  are 
stored.     He  identifies  with  the  third,  fifth,  and  sixth  days 
respectively,  "  the  period  of  plants,  the  period  of  great  sea 
monsters  and  creeping  things,  and  the  period  of  cattle  and 
beasts  of  the  earth."      And  these  days  he    connects   with 
geologic   history — that  is,  with  what   has  been  commonly 
designated  the  Primary,  Secondary,  and  Tertiary  formations. 
The  work  of  the  fourth  day,  or  the  introduction  of  the  sun 
and  moon,  he    leaves   undiscussed,  as  not   lying  properly 
within  the  sphere  of  the  geologist.     In  this  his  theory  has 
failed.     It  does  not  meet  all  the  facts  of  the  case;  and,  with 
regard  also  to  the  Sabbath  as  a  period,  there  are  difficulties 
which  have  not  yet  been  overcome.     But  apart  from  these 
anomalies,  the  theory  cannot  be  satisfactorily  harmonised 
with  the  facts  of  geology.     At  least,  so  great  latitude  of  in- 
terpretation   has    to    be    adopted   with   a   view    to    their 
satisfactory  adjustment,  that  itr  is  a  much  simpler,  and  also, 
in  our  opinion,  a  much  safer,  course  to  accept  the  days  as 
natural   or   ordinar)^      There  have  been,  according  to  M. 
D'Orbigny,  so  many  distinct  breaks  or  changes,  that  they 


52  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  Til. 

cannot  be  harmonised  with  the  six  Mosaic  days.  This  is, 
of  course,  denied  by  evolutionists,  whose  system  displaces 
every  theory  or  interpretation,  whether  referring  to  periods 
or  days;  but  although  breaks  and  intervals  remain,  those  who 
have  accepted  the  period-interpretation  have  reasons  for  their 
conclusion  which  it  is  not  our  desire  to  ignore  or  repudiate. 
As  that  theory  may  present,  to  their  judgment,  the  most 
satisfactory  solution,  it  is  their  duty  to  retain  it,  while  they 
watch  \vith  interest  the  progress  of  scientific  investigation, 
and  the  bearing  of  its  results  on  their  conclusion. 

Modifications  of  this  theory  have  appeared  from  time  to 
time  ;  and  we  are  not  without  hope  that  the  day  will  come 
when  science  may  constrain  all  classes  to  accept  a  common 
conclusion.  "The  seven  days  of  creation,"  says  a  recent  wTiter, 
"are  neither  seven  literal  days,  of  twenty-four  hours  each, 
nor  yet  seven  definite  historical  periods,  the  events  of  which 
are  literally  recorded  ;  but  as  the  seven  seals,  trumpets,  and 
vials  of  St.  John's  Revelation,  represented  the  history  of  the 
future  by  a  typical  representation  of  each  of  its  grand  divi- 
sions, without  any  of  them  being  chronologically  defined, 
so  do  the  seven  days  of  the  Mosaic  economy  represent,  in  a 
dramatic  and  typical  form,  the  successive  changes  which 
took  place  at  creation,  each  grand  feature  being  boldly 
sketched  out  in  one  scenic  represekitation  characU-ristic  of 
that  period."  ^  This  supposition  niny  to  many  prove  the 
most  satisfactory.  i 

The  view  which  Dr.  Chalmers  propounded  has,  in  its 
broad  outline,  the  charm  of  simplicity  and  the  advantage  of 
placing  the  historical  statement  in  thi  same  light  in  which 
the  others  are  received.  "The  first  verse,"  he  says, 
"describes  the   primary  act  of  creation,  and  leaves  us  to 


'  "  rrinicval  M.nn  Unveileil,"  p.  44. 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


53 


place  It  as  far  back  as  we  may;  and  the  first  half  of  the 
second  verse  describes  the  state  of  the  earth  at  the  point  of 
time  anterior  to  the  detailed  operations  of  this  chapter."    On 
this  supposition,  an  immense  interval  elapsed  between  the 
beginning  and  the  establishment  of  the  present  condition 
of  the  globe,  and  during  that  interval  all  the  processes  have 
transpired  with  whose  results  geologists  are  now  conversant 
It  IS  much  in  favour  of  this  view,  as  Dr.  Duns  observes,  that 
it  satisfied  such  philosophic  observers  as  Sedg^vdck,  Buck- 
land,  Hitchcock,  and  Fleming.      The  interpretation  which 
renders  the  days  of  natural  length  has  its  difficulties,  but 
they  seem  to  be  less  than  those  of  the  period-interpreta- 


tion. 


The  changes  which  are  described  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Oenesis,  had  reference  specially  to  Man.      The  light  the 
atmosphere,  the  plants,  the  animals,  are  introduced  in  ob- 
vious relation  to  him;  and  it  is  but  natural  to  suppose  that 
those   changes  only  would  be  mentioned  which   had   the 
closest   historical    connection   with    him.      While    we   do 
agree   with   Professor   Duns    in   separating    "In   the    be- 
ginning" m  Genesis  from  the  "In  the  beginning"  in  the 
Oospel  of  St.  John,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  accepting  his 
statement  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  not  a  history 
of  any  order  of  things  but  the  present.^     The  paraphrase  by 
Archdeacon  Pratt  (p.  49),  omitting  his  supposition  as  to  the 
process  by  which  light  was  introduced,  is  in  harmony  with  the 
opmion  which  we  have  long  held,  and  often  fully  explained; 
and  his  brief  summary  is,  on  U.e  whole,  an  admirable  state- 
ment  of  the  view  which  we  think  most  honours  the  histori- 
cal du-ectness  of  the  Scriptures,  and  best  meets  the  require- 
ments of  science.     It  is  an  e.xpansion  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  sug- 

^  "  Science  and  Christian  Thought,"  p.  195. 


54  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  111. 

gestion,  and  is  based  on  the  wider  range  of  facts  which, 
since  his  time,  scientific  enquiry  has  produced.  In  the 
long  interval  between  the  first  creation  of  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,  and  tlie  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man,  races 
of  plants  and  animals  lived,  died,  and  became  fossilised ; 
but  because  man  is  not  specially  concerned  with  these  long 
historical  processes,  the  Scriptures  are  silent  regarding  them. 
In  this  view  the  conclusion  is  quite  legitimate,  that  "  the  three 
geological  discoveries  regarding  the  antiquity  of  the  earth, 
the  existence  of  animals  and  plants  long  prior  to  the  appear- 
ance of  man,  and  the  existence  of  the  sun,  also,  prior  to 
the  work  of  the  six  days,  may  be  true,  and  yet  find  no  op- 
position in  the  statements  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  inter- 
preted according  to  this  theory  which  takes  the  days  ;  and 
Scripture  and  science  are  found  to  be  not  at  variance. 
The  six  days'  creation  exhibits  a  series  of  creative  acts,  which 
terminated  in  the  appearance  of  the  human  race  upon  the 
scene."  ^ 

The  facts  of  geology  warrant  the  inference  that,  in 
immediate  connection  with  the  time  of  man's  appearance, 
there  were  introduced  plants  and  animals,  not  before 
e.xisting,  which  were  specially  adapted  to  his  wants. 

While  questions  regarding  details  may  be  urged  which, 
in  the  present  stage  of  scientific  inquiry,  cannot  be  satisfac- 
torily answered,  recent  discoveries  in  geology  and  applications 
in  natural  philosophy,  taken  in  connection  with  advances  in 
Biblical  scholarship,  warrant  our  anticipating  such  a  com- 
bination of  results  as  may  soon  shed  light  through  what  is 
still  obscure.  Meanwhile,  we  may  suggest  the  probability 
that,  while  in  the  six  natural  days  the  preparation  of  the 
earth  for  man  was  consummated  tlirough  a  series  of  divinely 

*  "Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance,''  pp,  77,  78. 


CHAP.  III.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  55 

instituted  adjustments,  these  transactions  are  the  outcome  or 
crown  of  processes  which  had  been  transpiring  through  long 
antecedent  periods, — but  an  outcome  only  through  the  medi- 
ately creative  power  of  God.  The  six  days'  work,  therefore, 
may  be  representative  of  those  changes  and  advances  which 
constitute  the  previous  history  of  our  globe  as  the  intended 
abode  of  man.  Revelation,  in  closing  the  Bible,  unfolds  the 
future  ;  Genesis,  in  its  commencement,  reveals  the  distant 
past.  The  Bible  sheds  light  in  both  directions,  until  it  fades 
in  mystery  ;  but  the  same  principles  of  interpretation  can  be 
legitimately  applied  whether  we  look  into  the  future  or  into 
the  past.  ^Ve  may  assume,  therefore,  that  as  one  prophetic 
description  sometimes  serves  to  cover  widely  separated 
future  events,  so  the  one  historical  description  in  Genesis 
may  embrace  events  in  the  past  lying  widely  apart.  In 
Ezekiel's  description  of  the  coming  destruction  of  Tyre,  for 
instance,  we  have  events  brought  together  which  were  in 
part  fulfilled  in  the  siege  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  in  part 
250  years  afterwards,  by  Alexander  the  Great ;  yet  no  such 
distinction  in  time  is  perceptible  in  the  narrative  itself.  In 
like  manner,  the  description,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
while  setting  forth  those  transactions  which  had  most  direct 
reference  to  man,  may  embrace  those  other  transactions 
also  which,  although  separated  by  intervening  ages,  yet 
pointed  to  the  same  result. 

And  the  six  literal  days  may  themselves  be  representative, 
as  Principal  M'Cosh  supposes,  "  of  six  epochs,  just  as  our 
Lord's  prediction  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  has 
throughout  a  reference  to  the.  final  day."  Taking  this  view, 
he  indicates  that  the  transaction  recorded  in  the  opening  of 
Genesis  may  not  be  a  mere  vision,  but  a  "  reality  which 
retains  the  natural  days,  as  after  the  type  of  the  natural 
epochs,  and  keeps  the  seventh  day  as  a  true  day,  and  yet  a 


56  BLEXDIXG  LICHTS.  [cHAP.  ill. 

prefigiiration  of  the  Sabbath  of  rest  which  remaineth  for  the 
people  of  God."'  ^ 

It  is  unnecessary  to  prosecute  this  subject  further ; 
enough  has  been  stated  to  show  that  the  questions 
which  have  been  raised  may  be  differently  answered, 
without  displacing  tlie  Bible.  Inferences  may  vary  with  the 
shifting  results  of  science.  Holding  fast  the  Bible  with  the 
one  hand,  we  may  grasp  all  that  science  brings  to  us  with 
the  other,  and  retain  it  until  we  find  for  it  an  appropriate 
place.  There  is  nothing  to  repel  the  Christian  in  the  records 
of  science.  He  can,  therefore,  afford  to  wait  for  more  light; 
while,  in  the  meantime,  he  lays  hold  of  such  supports  as  are 
within  his  reach.  Temporary  in  their  character,  they  may 
guide  to  what  is  permanent.  If  there  is  one  lesson  more 
than  another  which  the  progress  of  the  sciences  is  teaching 
us,  it  is  that  of  caution  and  the  necessity  of  repressing 
dogmatic  tendencies  ;  and  if  there  is  one  benefit  more  than 
another  which  the  history  of  this  discussion  is  conferring,  it 
is  that  of  greater  confidence  in  the  truth  of  the  Bible. 

*  See  an  Instructive  Note  in  "The  Supernatural  in  relation  to  the 
Natural,"  pp.  343,  344. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Unity  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth— Unity  in  the  Structure 
of  the  Earth,  and  in  its  Life-Forms. 

"Older  is  Heaven's  first  law;  and  the  second  is  like  luito  it,  that 
everything  serves  an  end.  This  is  the  sum  of  all  science.  These  are 
the  two  mites,  even  all  that  she  hath,  which  she  throws  into  the  treasury 
of  the  Lord  ;  and  as  she  does  so  in  faith,  Eternal  Wisdom  looks  on  and 
commends  the  deed." — Principal  JSP Cosh. 

I. — Unity  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth. 

THE  first  reference  in  Genesis  to  the  unity  of  "the 
heaven  and  the  earth,"  is  amply  confirmed  and  illus- 
trated by  subsequent  statements.  The  Israelites  of  old 
never  doubted  this  doctrine;  they  believed  that  "the  heaven 
and  the  earth"  were  necessarily  d?//<?,  because  they  were  created 
and  governed  by  the  one  omnipotent  Ruler.  It  could 
scarcely  be  otherwise,  for  no  truth  was  taught  by  their 
prophets  with  greater  directness  and  felicity  of  expression. 

"  While  philosophy  was  still  breathing  mist,  and  living  in 
a  chaos,  the  opening  sentence  of  the  Bible  had  been  shining 
on  the  Hebrew  mind  for  centuries,  a  ray  direct  from 
heaven."!  This  unity  was  as  fully  and  as  emphatically 
taught,  as  were  its  commencement  and  its  close.  That  the 
Israelites  had  any  such  conceptions  of  the  vastness  of  the 
universe  as  has  been  unfolded  by  modern  astronomy,  no  one 
supposes ;  but  their  conceplioils  were  accurate  in  so  for  as 
they  were  based  on  revelation. 

The  freedom  and  clearness  of  the  announcements  in  the 


1  "Man  Primeval,"  J.  Harris,  p,  15. 


58  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IV. 

Bible,  have  become  only  the  more  remarkable  through  the 
increasing  light  of  astronomical  science.  God  is  called  the 
"  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth,"  ^  "  the  maker  of  heaven 
and  earth."'  "  The  heaven,  even  the  heavens,  are  the 
Lord's."  -'  "  Thus  saith  God  the  Lord,  he  that  created  the 
heavens,  and  stretched  them  out ;  he  that  spread  forth  the 
earth,  and  that  which  cometh  out  of  it."^  In  the  New 
Testament,  the  same  explicitness  prevails.  "  At  that  time 
Jesus  answered  and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth."  ^  And  the  angel  "  sware  by  him  that 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  who  created  heaven  and  the  things 
that  therein  are,  and  the  earth  and  the  things  that  therein 
are,  and  the  sea  and  the  things  which  are  therein."  '•'  Other 
passages  in  the  same  strain  might  be  adduced,  showing  the 
necessary  unity  of  the  cosmical  system  as  dependent  on  the 
will  of  ONE  omnipotent  and  infinitely  wise  Being.  There  is, 
in  the  Bible,  no  conflict  of  creative  powers  ;  tliere  is  no  in- 
congruity of  adjusted  worlds,  such  as  other  records  present. 
No  one  can  peruse  the  books  of  the  Bible,  bearing  in  mind 
that  they  are  separated  by  centuries,  without  being  impressed 
by  the  fact  of  one  design  and  one  pervading  spirit. 

We  cannot  reflect  on  the  immeasurableness  of  the  universe 
as  taught  in  the  v  Bible,  without  at  once  recognising  the 
exactness  of  the  terms  used.  They  are  not  vague  and 
shadowy  or  incongruous,  but  are  so  definite  as  to  meet  the 
generalisations  of  astronomy.  Ideas  at  one  time  were  not 
uncommon  regarding  the  measurableness  of  the  heavens  and 
the  numbering  of  the  stars ;  but  in  the  Bible  this  arrogance 
found  only  rebuke,  as  it  ever  assigned  to  Deity  alone  the 
prerogative   of  measuring   space  and   counting   the   stars. 


*  Genebis  xiv.  19.     "  Pbalm  cxv.  15,  16;  I'salni  c.\.\iv.  8;  Psalm  c.vlvi.  6. 
'  Ibaiah  xlii.  5.     ''  Matthew  xi.  25.     *  Revelation  v.  6. 


CHAP.  IV.]  BLENDING  JLIGHTS.  59 

"  Look  now  toward  heaven,  and  tell  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able 
to  number  them."  ^  "  He  telleth  the  number  of  the  stars ; 
he  calleth  them  by  their  names."  -  "  To  whom  then  will  ye 
liken  me,  or  shall  I  be  equal  ?  saith  the  Holy  One.  Lift  up 
your  eyes  on  high,  and  behold  who  hath  created  these  things, 
that  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number ;  he  calleth  them  all 
by  names,  by  the  greatness  of  his  might,  for  that  he  is 
strong  in  power;  not  one  faileth."^  "/j  not  God  in  the 
height  of  heaven  ?  and  behold  the  height  of  the  stars,  how 
high  they  are  ! "  ^  "  For  by  him  were  all  things  created  that 
are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  the  earth,  visible  and  invisible, 
whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or 
powers ;  all  things  were  created  by  him  and  for  him ;  and 
he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all  things  consist."^ 
These  and  similar  sublime  passages  we  can  hold  firmly  in 
the  light  of  modern  discoveries ;  they  sustain  all  that  has  yet 
transpired  on  the  side  of  science,  and  astronomy  cannot 
dissociate  itself  from  these  great  revealed  tmths. 

The  idea  of  unity  is  strengthened  by  the  impressive  con- 
clusion of  ^L  INIaedler,  that  this  visible  universe  of  suns  and 
their  systems  is  moving  around  some  grand  centre,  in  a 
ceaseless,  and,  to  us,  mysterious  march.  Guided  by  analogy, 
Herschel  reached  this  inference  ;  and,  since  that  time,  definite 
reasoning  has  confirmed  it,  M.  Maedler's  conclusion  that 
the  star,  Alcyone,  one  of  the  Pleiades,  the  well-known  seven 
stars,  represents  the  common  centre  of  the  cosmical  system, 
has  in  its  support  such  concurrent  approval  that  it  may  be 
accepted.  While  admitting  the  soundness  of  the  inference 
that  there  is  such  a  centre,  some  doubt  whether  it  has  yet 
been  ascertained,  and,  like  the  late  Sir  David  Brewster,  sup- 


^  Gen.  -\v.  5.      -  Psalm  c.xlvii.  4.      ^  Isaiah  .\1.  25,26.      ''Jobxxii.  12. 
'  Colossians  i,  16. 


6o  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  IV. 

pose  that  the  centre  may  be  dark,  and  of  course  not  visible ; 
but  whether  Alcyone  be  the  real  centre  or  not,  does  not  affect 
the  conclusion  as  to  unity.  That  there  is  a  centre  somewhere, 
is  admitted;  and  long  ages  ago,  before  the  light  of  astronomy 
dawned  on  this  fact,  it  was  in  dim  vision  revealed  to  Job.  It 
was  unfolded  to  him  as  a  truth,  the  full  import  of  which  pos- 
sibly he  did  not  comprehend,  and  he  repeats  it  in  the  ques- 
tion, "  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades,  or 
loose  the  bands  of  Orion."  ^  The  profound  significance  of 
this  long-hidden  or  mysterious  question  has,  of  late  years, 
attracted  attention  as  strangely  prophetic  of  a  truth  which, 
at  last,  the  once  distant  future  has  begun  to  unveil.  That  Job 
had  penetrated  the  secrets  of  the  heavenly  mechanism,  we 
do  not  afiirm :  but  his  expressions  clearly  sustain  that  truth  as 
to  a  grand  centre,  which  has  only  of  late  been  accepted. 
May  we  not  legitimately  suppose  that  the  glorious  Being 
who  hath  not  only  framed  the  heavens  in  all  their  vastness, 
but  hath  also  given  delicate  structure  to  an  insect's  wing 
and  enriched  the  lily  with  its  beauty  and  its  fragrance,  would 
give  with  equal  condescension,  to  subserve  ultimately  a  moral 
purpose,  a  prophetic  series  of  truths  in  the  economy  of  the 
universe  ?  Accepting  prophecy  as  vaUd  in  relation  to  tlie 
human  race,  is  it  entirely  improbable  that  He  who  has  given 
glimpses  of  unforeseen  changes  in  distant  centuries  of 
national  histories,  would  vouchsafe  some  gleam  of  those 
facts  or  laws  in  the  amplitude  of  space  and  the  multitude 
of  systems,  which  progressive  science  should  ages  after- 
wards fully  interpret?  As  He  has  given  the  greater, 
we  may  surely  anticipate  the  besto^^^nent  of  the  lesser ;  as 
He  has  revealed  distant  secrets  in  the  moral  universe 
which  we  readily  accept,  may  we  not  assume  the  proba- 

^  Job  ,\x.\Yiii,  31. 


CHAP.  IV.]  BLE.VDIXG   LIGHTS.  6 1 

bility  of  His  giving  glimpses  of  realities  also  in  the  material 
universe  ? 

Not  onlyis  the  language  of  Job  verydefinite,but  its  precision 
is  beginning  to  be  recognised  as  in  harmony  with  scientific  dis- 
covery. The  more  we  learn  of  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens, 
the  more  significant  does  Job's  inquiry  become.  For  many 
centuries,  mystery  so  shrouded  the  question  "  Canst  thou 
bind  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades  or  loose  the  bands  of 
Orion  ?  "  that  men  concluded  it  was  meaningless.  It  is  now 
intelligible.  The  word  rendered  Pleiades, — Chimah,  in  the 
original, — while  held  by  some  to  represent  a  "heap"  or 
"group,"  is  said  by  others  to  mean  literally  a  hinge.,  that  around 
which  other  bodies  turn  or  move.  "The  sweet  influences" 
are  "the  ties"  or  the  strong  forces  of  Chimah;  and  the  phrase 
legitimately  suggests  the  idea  of  a  controlling  power  which 
connects  Avith  this  centre  the  circling  march  of  the  universe. 
"  Truly,  there  are  glories  in  the  Bible  on  which  the  eye  of 
man  has  not  gazed  sufficiently  long  to  admire  them ;  and 
there  are  difficulties,  the  depth  and  inwardness  of  which 
require  a  measure  of  the  same  qualities  in  himself  There 
are  notes  struck  on  places,  which,  like  some  discoveries  of 
science,  have  sounded  before  their  time,  and  only  after  many 
days  have  been  caught  up  and  found  a  response  on  earth. 
There  are  germs  of  truth  which,  after  a  thousand  years,  have 
yet  taken  root  in  the  world."  And  are  not  Job's  questions, 
chords  struck  long  before  their  time,  and  only  now  is  the  re- 
sponsive note  beginning  to  be  rightly  heard  and  understood  ! 

Still  grander  and  more  imposing  is  the  conception  of  the 
universe  to  which  recent  discoveries  have  led  us.  Its  im- 
measurableness  is  ovenvhelming.'  The  naming  of  the  stars  is 
not  within  the  compass  of  human  effort.  It  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  Creator  alone  to  comprehend  "  the  All."  While 
the  astronomer  who  neglects  the  guidance  of  the  Bible,  is 


62  BLENDIXG  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IV. 


powerless  amid  the  mysteries  of  numberless  stars,  the 
student  who  accepts  its  teaching,  while  he  traverses  space, 
is  humble,  and  adores  the  Mighty  One  by  whom  all  is  upheld 
and  controlled.  He  finds  in  stars  rising  above  stars,  and 
spreading  beyond  all  that  the  telescope  can  reach,  but  one 
stupendous  illustration  of  the  Bible  announcement  as  to  the 
unity  of  all  that  is  visible  or  faintly  shadowed.  Both  the 
works  and  the  Word  of  God  are  revealing  to  us,  by  their 
blending  rays,  the  grand  tnuh,  that  the  magnificent  array  of 
worlds  which  has  fallen  within  the  sweep  of  human  scrutiny, 
may  after  all  be  to  the  whole  of  God's  material  creation  but 
as  a  leaf  to  the  forest  or  a  grain  of  sand  to  the  globe.  Vaster 
systems  lie  beyond,  diftering  from  one  another,  in  all  pro- 
bability, not  only  in  mass  and  form,  but  in  nature.  Much  as 
astronomers  have  measured,  it  is  as  nothing  to  what  can  be 
but  dimly  seen  by  them,  or  lies  altogether  hidden  from  their 
view.  System  rises  beyond  system,  until  survey  is  useless. 
Vast  as  are  the  dimensions  of  our  solar  system,  it  almost 
disappears  in  the  seeming  illimitableness  of  other  sun-systems. 
After  we  have  struggled  to  master  their  magnitudes  and 
survey  the  space  which  they  occupy,  we  are  confounded  and 
paralysed  by  the  still  greater  task  to  conceive  what  '*  the 
All "  must  be,  when  we  find  that  the  whole  system  of  stars, 
of  which  our  sun  is  part,  is  no  more  than  an  atom  in  the  far 
sweeping  frame  of  which  the  star  system  consists.  Tnily, 
apart  from  the  Bible,  there  is  no  grander  iK)r  more  impres- 
sive subject  of  study  than  the  immensity  and  the  structure  of 
the  heavens,  as  opened  out  in  the  occasional  expositions  of 
astronomers  during  the  last  hundred  years,  or  rather  since 
Wright  of  Durham,  in  1750,  enunciated  his  theory  of  the 
construction  of  the  universe.  Tliere  is  discoverable  a  one- 
ness, or  unity,  through  all  this  stupendous  vastness,  which  is 
inexpressibly  overawing.    Its  contemplation  compels  stillness ; 


CHAP.  IV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  63 

it  makes  mind  motionless.  Measureless,  exhaustless, — to  us 
incomprehensibly  infinite,  yet  harmonious, — the  universe 
overpowers  the  imagination  itself,  until,  guided  by  the  Bible, 
we  turn  in  our  helplessness  to  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of 
all  as  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigning,  and  are  satisfied 
by  finding  that  our  ignorance  is  lost  in  the  fulness  of  His 
infinite  wisdom.  Entranced  by  harmony  of  universal  move- 
ment, and  overawed  by  measureless  extent,  our  overburdened 
thoughts  can  find  appropriate  outlet  only  in  the  language  of 
the  angels'  song,  "Great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works, 
Lord  God  Almighty,  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all."  ^ 

IL — Unity  in  the  Structure  of  the  Globe,  and  in 
ITS  Life-Forms. 

The  unity  visible  in  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens  is  no 
less  distinctly  recognisable  in  the  mechanism  of  the  earth. 
What  astronomy  is  revealing  in  the  one  department,  geology 
is  revealing  in  the  other.  While  the  facts  of  astronomy  lie 
in  the  area  of  immeasurable  space,  and  the  facts  of  geology 
in  the  area  of  yet  indefinite  ages,  purpose  has  always 
indubitably  appeared  in  both.  Strata  separated  by  long 
periods  are  yet  bound  together  by  an  evident  design,  which, 
prevailing  alike  in  gentle  and  in  tumultuating  movements, 
includes  islands  and  continents,  and  is  ever  apparent  in 
crystallisation,  in  mineral  aggregation,  in  fusion  by  heat, 
in  processes  of  cooling,  and  in  the  storage  of  the  globe  in 
relation  to  the  wants  of  Man.  The  gold,  the  silver,  the 
iron,  the  slate,  the  coal,  the  limestone,  the  salt,  and  other 
metals  and  minerals,  all  presuppose  in  their  allocation  and 
disposition  a  guiding  power,  and  point  anticipatively  to  a 
period  of  uses.  They  are  prophetic  of  INLan's  appearance. 
His  advent  at  least  is  their  explanation.     Man's  presence, 

^  Revelation  xv.  3. 


64  BLENDIXG  LIGHTS.  [chap.  tv. 

with  a  bodily  structure  to  seize  these  materials,  and  an 
intellect  to  develop  and  combine  their  applications  in  arts  and 
manufactures,  shows  not  only  a  beautiful  harmony  in  the 
whole  fabric,  but  how  little  have  the  earth  and  man  been 
dependent  for  their  present  constitution  and  connection  on 
the  chance  movements  of  blind  force. 

As  this  part  of  the  subject  ^\^ll  fall  to  be  more  fully  con- 
sidered when  we  examine  the  preparation  of  the  earth  for 
man,  we  may  omit  further  reference  to  it  here. 

The  unity  visible  in  the  structure  of  the  globe,  is  no  less 
conspicuously  manifest  in  the  Life-Forms  which  are  repre- 
sented by  the  fossils  of  succeeding  ages,  and  by  now  existing 
plants  and  animals. 

Widely-separate  rock  formations  show  distinctly  continuity 
of  life-forms.  Though  disconnected  by  descent,  they  are 
one  in  typical  outline.  There  is  such  similarity  in  general 
structure,  that  the  idea  of  plan  cannot  be  discountenanced 
without  a  violation  of  the  common  principles  of  observation 
and  inference.  Each  life-age  has  been  prophetic  of  that 
which  is  to  follow.  Animals  of  advanced  structure  in  the  one 
age,  give  place  to  animals  of  still  higher  form  and  greater 
beauty  in  the  next,  but  not  always  of  greater  delicacy  and 
intricacy  in  their  anatomical  framework,  nor  more  subtle  in 
the  play  of  life  forces,  but  having  new  adaptations  to  climatic 
and  other  conditions.  This  progression  has  culminated  in 
man. 

Agassiz,  while  acknowledging  that  there  is  evidently  an 
advance  from  lower  to  higher  animal  fonns, — that  there  is 
increasing  closeness  of  structure  to  those  now  existing,  and 
that  especially  among  vertebrates  there  is  a  growing  likeness 
to  man, — yet  denies  that  these  connections  arc,  in  any 
degree,  the  consequence  of  parental  descent.  "  The  link, " 
he  says,  "  by  which  they  arc  connected  is  of  a  higher  and 


CHAP.  IV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  65 

immaterial  nature,  and  their  connection  is  to  be  sought  in 
the  view  of  the  Creator  himself,  whose  aim  in  forming  the 
earth,  in  allowing  it  to  undergo  the  successive  changes  which 
geology  has  pointed  out,  and  in  creating  successively  all  the 
different  types  of  animals  which  have  passed  away,  was  to 
introduce  Man  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Man  is  the 
end  towards  which  all  the  animal  creation  has  tended,  from 
the  first  appearance  of  the  first  Palaeozoic  fishes."  ^ 

Cuvier  and  Hugh  Miller  may  be  held  as  representing  the 
same  conclusions,  though  based  on  a  lesser  area  of  fact  and 
observation,  and  Professor  Owen  has  strikingly  enforced 
them.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  conceive  of  the  utter  absence 
Q)i  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  Deity,  and  that  Man  was 
never  foreshadowed  in  the  animal  structures  of  succeeding 
ages.  Although  we  cannot  discern  and  describe  the  process 
by  which  natural  laws  or  secondary  causes  have  educed  the 
results  which  appear,  we  may  rest  assured  that  a  presiding 
Intelligence  directed  them  all.  "  But  if,  ^vithout  derogation 
of  the  Divine  Power,"  says  Professor  Owen,  "  we  may  con- 
ceive of  the  existence  of  such  ministers,  and  personify  them 
by  the  term  "  Nature,"  we  learn  from  the  past  history  of  our 
globe  that  she  has  advanced  with  slow  and  stately  steps, 
guided  by  the  archetypal  light  amidst  the  wreck  of  worlds, 
from  the  first  embodiment  of  the  vertebrate  idea  under  its 
old  ichythyic  vestment,  until  it  became  arrayed  in  the 
glorious  garb  of  the  human  form."  '- 

The  same  system  that  gives  sjimiietry,  gracefulness,  and 
beauty  to  the  cedar,  the  vine,  and  the  rose,  built  up  in 
olden  eras  the  gigantic  tree-ferns.  The  earliest  shells  that 
have  been  found,  protected  their  inmates  like  species  now 

^Agassiz  and  Gould's  "Comparative  Physiology,"  p.  417. 
-Professor  Owen's  "  Discourse  on  Limbs,"  p.  86. 
F 


66  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IV. 

living;  and  the  first  spiral  shells  discovered,  were  shapedbythe 
same  mathematical  principles  by  which,  in  our  seas,  molluscs 
are  at  the  present  day  regulating  their  dwellings.    The  verte- 
bral columns  of  fishes,  birds,  and  quadrupeds,  and  even  the 
teeth  of  extinct  animals,  are  all  constructed  on  a  definite 
plan  or  model.     In  both  animal  and  vegetable  physiology, 
there  are  revealed  those  minute  mechanisms  which  no  less 
strikingly  attest  unity  of  plan.     So  abundant  are  the  details 
and  so  manifold  the  microscopic  mar\-els  which  here  meet 
us,  that  we  become  bewildered  by  what  is  numberless,  as  in 
astronomy  we  are  overawed  by  vastness.     Those  who  have 
made  the  greatest  discoveries,  and  who  still  prosecute  exact 
researches,  should  be  the  readiest  to  say  with  Dr.  Carpenter, 
"  And  when  the  physiologist  is  inclined  to  dwell  unduly  upon 
his  capacity  for  penetrating  the  secrets  of  nature,  it  may  be 
salutary  for  him  to  reflect  that,  even  when  he  has  attained 
the  furthest  limit  of  science,  by  advancing  to  those  general 
principles  which  tend  to  place  it  on  an  elevation  which  others 
have  already  reached,  he  yet  knows  nothing  of  those  won- 
drous operations  which  are  the  essential  parts  of  every  one 
of  those  complicated  functions  by  which  the  life  of  the  body 
is  sustained.     ^V'hy  one  cell  should  absorb,  why  another  that 
seems  exactly  to  resemble  it  should  assimilate,  why  a  third 
should  secrete,  why  a  fourth  should  prepare  the  producti\  c 
germs,  and  why  of  two  germs  that  seem  exactly  similar  one  , 
should  be  developed  into  the  meanest  zoophyte  and  another/ 
into  the  complex  fabric  of  man — are  questions  that  physio- 1 
logy  is  not  likely  ever  to  answer."^     While  freely  admitting 
that  mysteries,  which  will  probably  bafile  for  ever  human 
intellect,  shroud  many  exquisitely  beautiful  processes,  we  see 
enough  to  constrain  us   to   acknowledge   a  community  of 

*  "Animal  Physiology,"  p.  592.     Bohn's  Edition, 


CHAP.  IV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


67 


Structural  arrangement,  and  to  accept   the  doctrine  of  an 
all-pervading  unity  in  life  fabrics. 

Penneating  these,  are  heat,  light,  electricity,  magnetism, 
as  correlated  forces ;  and  the  discovery  that  these  different 
physical  forces  are  mutually  convertible,— that  they  can  pass 
mto  one   another,— or,  in  other  words,   that   all   force   is 
the    same   force,— has    placed    in   an    entirely   new   light 
the  unity  of  the  globe.     These  forces  are  so  simple,  yet  so 
powerful   in    their  combinations,  and  are  so  universal    in 
their  diffusion,  as  they  connect  the  inorganic  and  organic 
fabrics,   that   the  doctrine  of  unity  is   rising  with   a  mag- 
nificence which  surpasses  that  even  of  endless  worlds  in  har- 
mony, because  they  bear  us  on  more  directly  to  the  mind 
of  God.     <'  And  even  if  we  cannot  certainly  identify  force 
m  all  Its  forms  %vith  the  direct  energies  of  one  omnipresent 
and  all-pervading  Will,  it  is  at  least  in  the  highest  degree 
unphilosophical  to  assume  the  contrary,  to  speak  or  to  think 
as  if  the  forces  of  nature  were  either  independent  of  or  even 
separate  from  the  Creator's  power."  ^ 

While  admitting  the  correlation  of  forces,  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  that  matter  and  force  are  inseparable,  and  while 
conceding  that  they  have  some  intimate  connection  with  the 
animal  frame,  we  deny  that  they  either  sustain  or  subordi- 
nate mental  force,  or  that  they  are  "the  all"  of  spiritual  life. 
There  are  facts  in  mental  history  which  a  purely  materialistic 
philosophy  can  never  explain.  One  of  these  is  a  belief  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Another  is  that  we  are  free 
agents,  and  are  morally  responsible  for  our  actions ;  and 
intimately  connected  mth  these  two,  is  the  idea  of  a  God 
almighty  and  omnipresent.  Matter  and  force,  however  in- 
separable, cannot  in  their  very  nature  produce  such  moral 

'Reigii  of  Law,"  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  p.  122. 


68  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IV. 

results  as  these.  Vital  force  is  essentially  different  from 
purely  physical  force.  "  It  is  one  thing  to  admit  that  the 
vital  and  active  energies  of  the  living  being  are  carried  on 
by  means  of  the  forces  of  inorganic  nature,  and  another  thing 
to  assert  that  any  mere  combination  of  these  forces  produces 
life."  ^  Vital  properties  are  superadded  ;  they  are  not  per- 
manent. They  are  removed  at  death,  and  do  not  reappear. 
"  The  material  properties  belong  to  the  matter,  whether  li\nng 
or  dead,"  says  Dr.  Beale,  "but  where  are  the  vital  properties 
in  the  dead  material  ?  If  physicists  and  chemists  would  only 
restore  to  life  that  which  is  dead,  we  should  all  believe  in  the 
doctrine  they  teach." "  As  we  are  are  not  discussing 
materialism,  we  follow  its  conclusions  no  further.  We 
accept  almost  all  that  it  teaches  physiologically  regarding 
the  connections  of  the  organic  and  inorganic,  and  the  ex- 
position which  it  gives  of  the  unity  of  our  globe  and  of  its 
life-fonns ;  but  we  refuse  to  stop  here,  because  there  is  a 
psychological  or  spiritual  sphere  in  Avhich  the  phenomena  of 
matter  and  force  are  comparatively  subordinate.  Psychology 
has  its  own  laws,  and  recognises  a  higher  than  a  materialistic 
government.  We  rise  from  the  lower  unity  to  that  which  is 
wider,  more  lasting,  and  more  sublime.  In  the  intimate 
connection  of  the  material  with  the  intellectual  and  spiritual, 
— of  the  outer  world  wth  the  "  world  within," — there  is  a 
unity  of  profounder  interest  than  that  which  the  physical 
universe  alone  exhibits,  and  that  interest  is  intensified 
when  we  separate  ourselves  altogether  from  what  is  external 
and  expatiate  with  freedom  in  the  domain  of  the  invisible. 
As    we     ascend    from    the    lowest     instinct     in     animals 


*  .See  a  very  able  article  in  the    "British  and  Foreign  Evangelical 
Review,"  July,  1872,  by  Professor  J.  R.  Lcebody. 

*  "Protoplasm  ;  or  Life,  Matter,  and  Mind,"  p.  27. 


CHAP.  IV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  69 

to  reason  and  faith  in  man,  Ave  infer  the  legitimacy  of  still 
higher  advances.  We  cannot  stop  with  man  as  the  tenninat- 
ing  link  in  the  series  of  rational  and  accountable  intelli- 
gences ;  we  cannot  admit  that  his  horizon  is  the  limit  of  moral 
agency  in  the  universe.  Analogy,  as  our  guide,  gives  to  us 
an  upward  impulse  which  we  cannot  check  without  doing 
violence  alike  to  the  expositions  of  science  and  Scripture. 
What  is  dim  to  reason,  Revelation  makes  distinct.  The  Bible 
guides  us  with  steady  step  into  the  invisible,  and  it  describes 
existences  in  it  with  as  much  historical  definiteness  as  when 
it  places  before  us  facts  which  lie  within  the  easy  appre- 
hension of  the  senses.  "  Thrones,  dominions,  principahties, 
and  powers"  are  described  as  distinct  representatives  of 
spiritual  intelligences,  or  celestial  dignities,  or  the  higher  and 
highest  essences  of  the  universe ;  order  reigns  there,  unity 
prevails,  as  with  one  mind  they  obey  God.  A  system  of 
beings  is  revealed  to  us,  vast,  mysterious,  yet  harmonious,  of 
which  science  can  take  no  cognisance.  The  sun  is  not  its 
centre,  nor  is  Alcyone.  The  Pleiades  do  not  reflect  its 
splendour,  nor  can  astronomers  define  its  outline  or  estimate 
its  glories.  Its  "thrones  and  dominions"  rise  inimitably 
until  they  approach  the  omnipotent  Adonai,  in  whom  and 
by  whom  and  for  whom  they  all  consist. 

When  astronomy,  geology,  chemistry,  physiology,  and  other 
correlated  sciences,  are  thus  associated  with  what  the  Bible 
reveals  in  the  unseen,  we  may  safely  rest  in  the  light  of  that 
Word  which  reveals  a  glorious  Being,  who  sees  the  end  from 
the  beginning,  and  who  has  in  matchless  wisdom  first  in- 
stituted the  design  to  which  e\'ery  fact,  and  law,  and  event 
have  been  throughout  conformed,  and  has  given  to  all  His 
works  a  unity  consonant  with  that  of  His  own  attributes. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Scripture  Allusions  coincident  with  Facts  in  Natural  Science. 

"The  Bible  frequently  makes  allusions  to  the  laws  of  nature,  llieir 
operations,  and  effects.  But  such  allusions  are  often  so  wrapped  in  the 
folds  of  the  peculiar  and  graceful  drapery  with  which  its  language  is 
occasionally  clothed,  that  the  meaning,  though  peeping  out  from  its 
thin  covering  all  the  while,  yet  lies  in  some  sense  concealed  until  the 
lights  and  revelations  of  science  are  thrown  upon  it ;  then  it  bursts  out 
and  strikes  us  with  exquisite  force  and  beauty." — Lieutenant  Maury. 

THERE  are  allusions  in  the  Bible,  written  centuries 
before  astronomy  had  given  a  glimpse  of  the  struc- 
ture of  the  universe,  or  geology  had  revealed  the  evolutions 
of  the  globe,  or  chemistry  any  of  its  constituent  elements, 
which  have  only  of  late  become  intelligible  and  been  recog- 
nised as  perfectly  exact.  The  coincidences  of  Bible 
statements  with  facts  in  natural  science  are  so  remarkable, 
and  comparatively  so  numerous,  that,  when  combined,  they 
constitute  a  powerful  argument  for  the  reliableness  of  the 
whole  book.  Although  the  Bible  does  not  teach  science,  it 
cannot  be  admitted  to  contradict  its  discoveries.  The 
coincidence  in  some  instances  may  seem  to  be  remote  or 
fanciful,  but  it  is  not  on  that  account  to  be  rejected.  New 
discoveries  may  remove  doubt  and  reveal  long-hidden  con- 
nections. 

We  have  already  noticed  ( i )  the  long-mysterious  questions 
in  the  Book  of  Job  regarding  the  Pleiades,  as  enriched  with 
unexpected  lustre  by  the  light  of  modern  astronomy;  and 
(2)  the  statements  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  regarding 
the  distinctive  facts  in  the  natural  history  of  "  the  grass,'' 


CHAP.  V.J  BLENDING   LIGHTS. 


71 


"  the  herb,"  and  "  the  fniit  tree,"  as  reaching  that  which 
botanists  have  made  the  basis  of  a  truly  scientific  classifica- 
tion. Without  fi.u-ther  adverting  to  these  allusions,  we  submit 
the  following  coincidences  : — 

3.  "And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst 
of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters. 
And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the  waters  which 
were  under  the  firmament  from  the  waters  which  ivere  above 
the  firmament."  ^  This  harmonises  with  what  is  known  of 
the  processes  of  evaporation  to  which  the  clouds  are  sub- 
ject as  they  float  above  us, — lakes  of  Avater  in  the  azure 
vault.  The  firmament  sustains  the  waters  collected  in  its 
scattered  clouds,  and  separates  them  from  those  resting  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  Take,  in  connection  with  this,  what 
Solomon  has  written, — "All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea;  yet 
the  sea  is  not  full ;  unto  the  place  from  whence  the  rivers 
come,  thither  they  return  again,"  - — and  we  may  fairly  press 
the  question,  Can  any  brief  description  more  exactly  set  forth 
what  has  been  ascertained  as  to  the  settled  course  of 
evaporation  ? 

4.  The  passage  in  Ecclesiastes  regarding  the  separation 
of  particles  of  water  from  the  rivers  and  the  sea,  has  an 
intensified  significance  when  placed  beside  that  other  state- 
ment in  Job  regarding  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere  :  "  For 
he  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  seeth  under  the 
whole  heaven ;  to  make  the  weight  for  the  winds ;  and  he 
weigheth  the  waters  by  measure."  ^  This  reference  to  the 
"weight  of  the  winds,"  dimly  indicates  that  simple  yet 
beautiful  arrangement  in  the  atmosphere  which  the  experi- 
ments of  natural  philosophy  have  made  known,  and  of  which 
the  barometer  is  a  simple  illustration.     In  the  still  atmos- 


^  Genesis  i.  6,7.  2  Ecclesiastes  i.  7.  3  Job  xxviii.  24,  25. 


72  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAF.  V. 

phere  there  slumbers  amazing  power;  it  has  a  weight,  or 
substantiaUty,  by  which  it  upholds  the  clouds  or  the  waters  ; 
and  there  is  in  its  movements  a  force  which  is  appalling  when 
in  tempest  it  nishes  hither  and  thither,  distributing  desola- 
tion and  death.  In  that  silent  process  by  which  the  clouds 
are  uplifited,  there  is  put  forth  in  a  single  year  a  weight  or 
an  amount  of  force  that  is  almost  incredible ;  it  has  been 
calculated  by  Arago  as  greater  than  the  united  strength  of 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  if  put  forth  for  20,000  years. 
And  can  any  history  of  rivers  be  more  definite  and  succinct 
than  that  which  is  gi\en  in  Edclesiastes,  when  they  are  re- 
presented as  hasting  to  the  sea  from  the  hills  and  the  clouds, 
and  as  again  returning  to  renew  their  course  ? 

5.  In  his  very  interesting  and  instructive  work,  "The 
Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea,'' Lieutenant  Maury  has  vividly 
described  the  currents  in  the  atmosphere  from  the  equator 
to  the  poles,  and  from  the  poles  to  the  equator, — the  one 
current  ranging  along  a  lower  level,  the  other  on  a  higher, 
and  both  exchanging  their  heights  at  the  equator  and  the 
tropics, — like  overlapping  belts  on  higher  and  lower  wheels 
in  a  factory, — while  at  the  north  and  south  poles  they  move 
from  right  to  left  and  left  to  right  respectively,  around  a 
circular  mass  of  air,  and  are  steady  in  their  course  as  the 
Gulf  Stream.^  Unlike  the  trade  winds,  they  know  no  rest. 
Their  circuit  is  ceaseless ;  and  no  one  can  examine  the  facts 
which  have  been  ascertained  and  the  principles  which  they 
represent,  Anthout  delighting  in  the  new  meaning  which  lights 
up  that  Scripture  sentence,  so  long  unintelligible,  "  The  wind 
goeth  toward  the  south,  and  turnelh  about  unto  the  north  : 
it  whirlcth  about  cotitinually;  and  the  wind  retumeth  again 
according  to  his  circuits."  -    This  is  truly  an  accurate  general- 

*  bee  Chapter  on  the  Atmosphere.        •  Ecclesiastes  i,  6, 


CHAP,  v.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  73 


isation,  and  may  well  arrest  the  attention  of  those  who 
believe  that  eveiy  line  of  the  Bible  has  been  long  since 
exhausted  of  all  its  truth. 

6.  There  is  an  allusion,  in  the  account  which  has  been 
given  of  the  triumph  by  the  Israelites  over  the  Amorites,  the 
accuracy  of  which  can  be  aright  appreciated  only  by  those 
who  bear  in  mind  how  limited  was  the  astronomical  know- 
ledge of  that  period,  and  who  set  aside  the  physical  diffi- 
culties of  the  narrative  by  which  its  light  is  partly  hidden  : — 
"  Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord,  in  the  day  when  the  Lord 
delivered  up  the  Amorites  before  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
he  said  in  the  sight  of  Israel,  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon 
Gibeon ;  and  thou.  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  And 
the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon  stayed,  until  the  people 
had  avenged  themselves  upon  their  enemies."  ^ 

It  is  of  course  well  known  now,  that  the  sun  and  moon 
are  so  closely  associated  that  the  staying  of  the  one  implies 
the  staying  of  the  other ;  but  who,  at  that  time,  contemplated 
such  a  combination  ?  Not  till  after  long  ages  was  their  con- 
nection revealed  by  astronomy.  While  in  other  books  called 
"  sacred,"  the  strangest  mistakes  are  made  as  to  the  sun  and 
the  moon,  their  exact  relation  is  in  this  early  narrative  dis- 
tinctly acknowledged.  The  sun,  it  is  true,  is  related  to 
other  planets  in  our  system ;  but  in  this  incident  the  Earth 
is  the  stand-point,  and  therefore  appropriately  are  the  moon 
^.n'^.  the  earth  conjoined.  The  sun  visibly  arrested  in  the 
heavens,  was  all  that  was  essential  for  the  leader  of  the 
Israelites  ;  yet  the  collateral  fact  is  announced, — the  moon 
staying  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  This  clear  association  of 
facts  which  were  for  ages  secluded  from  observation  and 
experience,  gives  presumptive  evidence  for  the  Divine  in- 

^  Joshua  X,  12, 13. 


74  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  v. 

spiration  of  the  Scriptures.  It  is  common  to  urge  on  our 
attention  the  physical  difficulties  which  the  narrative  repre- 
sents ;  but  is  there  no  obstacle  to  the  ridicule  with  which 
scepticism  has  treated  tliis  record,  in  the  insight  which  this 
combination  shows?  Even  admitting  that  the  \\Titer  did 
not  quite  comprehend  the  truth  which  he  set  forth,  or  that 
his  imagination,  not  his  intellect,  was  the  origin  and  medium 
of  its  expression,  how  account  for  the  fulness  and  the  exact- 
ness of  the  statement  itself?  And  is  it  not  in  thorough 
accordance  with  other  allusions  to  what  lay  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived  ?  As  to  the  miracle  itself,  there 
are  many  difficulties,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  when  an  ex- 
haustive exposition  is  attempted.  In  its  full  acceptation,  it 
involves  the  temporary  arrestment  of  great  physical  laws ; 
and,  therefore,  explanations  have  been  offered  to  the  effect 
that  the  standing  still  was  not  real,  but  apparent,  through  a 
continuance  of  light  protracted  by  some  of  the  ordinary 
processes  of  refraction.  Literally  and  absolutely,  there  could 
be  no  arrestment,  because  the  sun  does  not  travel.  Pro- 
longation of  light  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  complete  the 
victory.  The  tempest  ^of  hail,  and  probably  of  meteoric 
stones,  which  is  described,  favours  the  supposition  of  the 
great  astronomer,  Kepler :  "  They  will  not  understand,"  he 
says,  "  that  the  only  thing  which  Joshua  prayed  for  was  that 
the  mountains  might  not  intercept  the  sun  from  him.  Be- 
sides, it  had  been  very  unreasonable  at  that  time  to  think  of 
astronomy,  or  of  the  errors  of  sight ;  for  if  any  one  had  told 
him  that  the  sun  could  not  really  move  in  the  valley  of 
Ajalon,  but  only  in  relation  to  sense,  would  not  Joshua  have 
answered  that  his  one  desire  was  that  the  day  might  be  pro- 
longed, so  it  were  by  any  means  whatever?" 

Dean  Stanley,  in  his  well-known  and  deservedly-valued 
work,    "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"   while  taking  a 


CHAP,  v.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  75 

similar  view,  is  apparently  inclined  to  admit  a  poetical 
colouring  beyond  what  the  narrative  warrants.  "  These 
words  in  the  book  of  Joshua,"  he  says,  "  were  doubtless  in- 
tended to  express  that,  in  some  manner,  in  answer  to 
Joshua's  earnest  prayer,  the  day  was  prolonged  till  the  vic- 
tory was  achieved.  How,  or  in  what  way,  we  are  not  told  : 
and  if  we  take  the  words  in  the  popular  and  poetical  sense 
in  which,  from  their  style,  it  is  clear  that  they  are  used,  there 
is  no  occasion  for  inquiry.  That  some  such  general  sense  is 
what  was  understood  in  the  ancient  Jewish  Church  itself,  is 
evident  from  the  slight  emphasis  laid  upon  the  incident  by 
Josephus,  and  the  Samaritan  book  of  Joshua ;  and  from  the 
absence  of  any  subsequent  allusion  to  it  (unless,  indeed,  in  a 
similar  poetic  strain)  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament."  He 
adverts  to  Habakkuk,  iii.  ii,  and  makes  the  following  apt 
quotations  from  Josephus,  in  a  note," — "  He  then  heard 
that  God  was  helping  him,  by  the  signs  of  thunder,  lightning, 
and  unusual  hailstones;  and  that  the  day  was  increased 
lest  the  night  should  check  the  zeal  of  the  Hebrews. 
That  the  length  of  the  day  did  then  increase,  and  was  longer 
than  usual,  is  told  in  the  books  laid  up  in  the  temple."  ^  The 
Samaritan  book  of  Joshua  says  that  "the  day  was  prolonged 
at  his  prayer,"  and  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Chalmers  is  to  the  same 
effect,  but  is  stated  with  a  fuller  and  firmer  reference  to  the 
literal  aspect  of  the  narrative.  "  The  shower  of  hailstones 
was  miraculous ;  and,  in  regard  to  the  much-controverted 
miracle  of  the  sun  and  moon  standing  still,  I  have  no  doubt 
it  was  so  to  the  effect  of  the  sun-dial  being  stationary,  which 
leaves  room  for  the  speculation  that  it  may  have  been  by 
atmospherical  refraction,  or  in  other  ways.  I  am  not  so  stag- 
gered by  this  narrative  as  to  feel  dependent  on  the  usual 

^  ''Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  pages  245,  246. 


76  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  v. 

explanations.  I  accept  of  it  in  the  popular  and  effective 
sense,  having  no  doubt  that  to  all  intents  and  puqioses  of 
that  day's  history,  the  sun  and  moon  did  stand  still,  the  one 
resting  over  Gibeon,  the  other  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon."  ^ 
Even  assuming  that  the  storm  was  in  full  accord  with  the 
laws  of  nature,  there  is  in  the  hail,  in  the  meteoric  stones,  in 
the  gloom,  in  the  refraction  of  the  light  (probable,  at  least), 
and  in  the  appearance  of  the  moon,  taken  along  with  the 
contest  in  the  elements,  and  with  the  prayer  of  Joshua, 
such  a  combination  of  facts  as  places  the  whole  narrative  for 
moral  purposes  under  the  direct  guidance  of  the  Great 
Governor  of  the  universe.  In  short,  there  is  in  the  narrative 
nothing  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  evidence  for  the  truth  of 
Scripture  which  has  been  presented  to  us  in  the  unexpected 
union  of  sun  and  moon  in  Joshua's  petition,  when  ordinarily 
the  sun  alone  was  necessary  for  the  miracle.  In  one  of  a 
very  able  course  of  lectures  on  Christianity  and  Scepticism, 
the  Rev.  Ur.  Tyler,  while  he  has  himself  "  no  difficulty  in 
accepting ''  what  is  stated  as  simple  matter  of  fact,  and  "  true 
in  the  fullest  and  most  literal  sense,  when  interpreted  accord- 
ing to  the  common  laws  of  language,"'  offers  the  following 
summary  of  Keil's  suggestions  on  the  passage :  "  And  the 
Bible  always  describes  natural  phenomena  as  they  appear, 
and  in  the  language  of  the  people,  not  according  to  the 
doctrine  or  tlie  language  of  physical  science.  But  this  pas- 
sage is  expressly  cited  from  a  book  of  poems,  the  book  of 
Joshua.  The  language  also  is  metrical,  and  admits  of  being 
arranged  in  the  fonn  of  verses.  It  has  the  parallelism  and 
the  other  characteristic  marks  of  Hebrew  poetr}' ;  and, 
irrespective  of  their  theological  opinions,  critics  now  generally 
agree  to  read  it  as  a  poetical  quotation.     It  must,  therefore, 


1  "Daily  Scripture  Readings,"  vol.  I.,  page  395. 


CHAP,  v.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  77 


be  interpreted  not  as  prose,  but  as  poetry ;  not  as  a  part  of 
the  narrative  by  the  sacred  historian,  but  as  a  fragment  from 
some  Hebrew  bard,  cited  by  way  of  embellishment.  And 
so  interpreted,  it  means,  perhaps,  no  more  than  this :  So  long 
did  the  day  seem  to  those  who  were  engaged  in  the  conflict, 
and  so  complete  was  the  destruction  of  the  enemies  of  Israel, 
that,  in  the  strong  language  of  a  bold  and  contemporary  poet, 
it  might  be  said  the  sun  and  moon  stood  still  in  the  heavens, 
and  the  day  was  prolonged  far  beyond  its  usual  duration,  till 
the  confederate  host  was  utterly  extinguished.  So,  in  the  song 
of  Deborah,  it  is  said  that  '  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought 
against  Sisera,'  upon  which  no  one  would  think  of  putting 
any  other  than  a  poetical  interpretation.  And  when  Isaiah 
prayed  to  the  Lord  in  the  name  of  his  people,  'Oh !  that  Thou 
wouldest  rend  the  heavens  and  come  down,  that  the  moun- 
tains might  flow  down  at  thy  presence  !'  or  when  David  sings, 
*  In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord,  ...  he  heard  my 
voice  out  of  his  temple,  ...  he  bowed  the  heavens 
also  and  came  down,  ...  he  sent  from  above,  and 
took  me  ;  he  drew  me  out  of  many  waters  ;' — who  is  there 
who  ever  thinks  of  understanding  these  words  literally,  as 
denoting  an  actual  rending  the  heavens,  or  a  desire  that  God 
would  actually  descend  from  heaven  and  stretch  out  his 
hand  to  draw  David  out  of  the  waters  ?  " 

But  Keil,  in  his  Commentary,  is  even  more  explicit  and 
decided  than  the  summary  by  Dr.  Tyler  at  first  sight  indi- 
cates. "  We  do  not  hesitate,"  he  says,  "  to  believe  in  such 
a  miracle  in  its  fullest  extent,  whenever  this  is  the  meaning 
obtained  from  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  words,  or  when 
it  can  be  exegetically  proved  to  be  the  only  admissible  and 
necessary  one.  For  even  though,  in  the  whole  of  the  world's 
history,  no  other  such  miracle  may  ever  have  occurred,  yet 
in  the  fact  that  it  only  happened  once,  there  is  just  as  little 


78  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  V. 

to  disturb  our  faith  as  are  objections  founded  upon  the 
invariable  order  with  which  the  lieavenly  bodies  revolve 
according  to  the  eternal  laws  implanted  in  them  by  the  Author 
of  Nature.  These  laws,  in  our  opinion,  are  nothing  more 
than  terms  by  which  men  are  accustomed  to  designate  certain 
manifestations  of  the  creative  power  of  God,  the  nature  of 
which  no  mortal  has  explored  ;  and  we  can  therefore  believe 
that  the  Creator,  in  his  omnipotence,  would  depart  from  the 
so-called  laws  of  nature,  whenever  in  his  inscrutable  wisdom 
he  saw  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  men,  for 
whose  redemption  he  did  not  even  spare  his  own  son."  He 
proceeds  to  state  that  the  physical  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
accepting  this  narrative,  and  the  fact  that  no  account  of  it  is 
met  A\nth  in  the  annals  of  other  nations,  would  not  in  the 
least  excite  any  doubts  in  his  mind  of  its  historical  veracity:  yet 
he  has  come  to  the  conclusion  which  we  have  already  set  forth. 
"  If  we  had  before  us  simple  prose,  or  the  words  of  the  his- 
torian himself,  we  should  without  the  least  hesitation  admit 
that  the  day  was  miraculously  lengthened  in  consequence  of 
a  delay  in  the  course  and  setting  of  the  sun.  But  verses  13 
and  1 4  contain  merely  an  amplification  or  poetical  expansion 
of  the  words  really  uttered  by  Joshua  in  the  heat  of  the  con- 
flict :  '  Sun,  wait till  the  people  have  avenged 

themselves  upon  their  enemies ;'  and  we  should  therefore 
entirely  overlook  the  essential  natureof  poetry  if  we  adhered 
closely  to  the  words  of  the  poet,  and  so  understood  them  to 
mean  that  the  day  was  miraculously  prolonged  because  the 
sun  stood  still."  ^ 

Even  if  Kcil's  view  be  adopted  as  the  most  satisfactorj', 
we  hold  that  the  narrative  or  quotation  is  so  adjusted  in  its 
terms  as  to  be  placed  for  our  guidance  in  an  unerring  Bible ; 

^  "Keil's  Commentary  on  Joshua,"  p.  266. 


CHAP,  v.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  79 

and  the  connection  of  the  sun  and  the  moon  is  so  divested 
of  all  that  is  incompatible  with  fact,  that  what  is  recorded 
harmonises  exactly  Avith  the  astronomical  conditions.  For 
our  own  part,  we  prefer  the  inference  that  the  day  was  pro- 
longed by  the  unusual  state  of  the  atmosphere  and  by  the 
refraction  of  the  light,  or  by  some  other  such  cause,  producing 
stationariness  for  a  time  in  the  sun-dial.  Be  the  explanatory 
facts  what  they  may,  the  result  was  miraculous,  and  in  answer 
to  Joshua's  prayer. 

There  are  other  incidental  allusions  which,  while  they  seem 
to  be  poetical,  and  fit  only  to  be  explained  by  its  imagery, 
or  laid  aside  as  of  practical  value  chiefly  in  giving  pleasure, 
may  yet  be  discovered  to  be  substantially  matter  of  fact,  and 
to  be  connected,  as  by  romance,  with  some  of  the  most  won- 
derful operations  of  nature.  What  has  already  happened  in 
some  instances,  may  be  applicable  in  many.  It  will  be 
admitted  that  there  is,  possibly,  much  more  in  many  passages 
than  figurative  language,  and  that,  Avithout  any  undue  stretch 
of  the  ordinary  laws  of  criticism,  they  may  yet  shed  light  on 
some  law  or  fact  in  science.  Difticulties  which  Christian 
apologists  have  endeavoured  to  remove  under  the  allegation 
that  the  language  is  poetical^  have  already  evanished  in  the 
light  of  ascertained  results. 

7.  The  Scriptures,  for  example,  were  ridiculed  by  infidels 
because  they  taught  that  the  sun  had  a  path  of  its  OAvn  in 
the  heavens.  "  In  them  hath  he  set  a  tabernacle  for  the 
sun  ;  which  is  as  a  bridegroom  coming  out  of  his  chamber, 
and  rejoiceth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race.  His  going 
forth  is  from  the  end  of  the  heaven,  and  his  circuit  unto  the 
ends  of  it :  and  there  is  nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof"  ^ 
Appearances  disproved  this  assertion,  and  early  astronomy 

^  Psalm  xi.\.  4,5,6. 


So  PLEXD/J^G  irCffTS.  [chap.  V. 

gave  it  a  direct  negative,  but  it  is  now  known  to  be  literally 
true.  The  sun  of  our  system  is  on  his  long  journey  around 
his  own  far-off  centre,  and  we  move  in  dependence  on  his 
light.  The  ridicule  has  ceased,  and  the  weapons  which  the 
sceptic  drew  from  the  nineteenth  Psalm  have  fallen  from  his 
hand,  only  to  be  uplifted  by  the  believer,  and  wielded  not 
merely  in  unexpected  defence,  but  in  vigorous  assault. 

8.  The  earth,  long  acknowledged  by  many  to  be  flat  and 
square,  or  circular,  and  often  made  the  subject  of  absurd  ex- 
positions, was  very  accurately  and  very  beautifully  described 
by  Job,  in  that  olden  record,  "  He  stretcheth  out  the  north 
over  the  empty  place,  and  haugdh  the  earth  upon  nothing. 
He  bindeth  up  the  waters  in  his  thick  clouds  ;  and  the  cloud 
is  not  rent  under  them."  ^  Sir  Isaac  Newton  could  not  have 
more  succinctly  stated  the  position  of  the  earth,  nor  could 
any  of  our  meteorologists  give  fitter  outline  of  our  cloud  sys- 
tem than  this  and  similar  descriptions  embody.  Again, 
taken  in  connection  with  that  vivid  delineation  of  the  close 
of  the  present  dispensation  by  St.  Peter,  to  which  reference 
has  been  already  made,  the  following  statement  by  Job  indi- 
cates the  condition  of  the  earth's  centre.  Whether  or  not 
he  perceived  its  force,  it  certainly  harmonises  with  the  most 
recent  findings  of  science :  "  As  for  the  earth,  out  of  it 
cometh  bread ;  and  under  it  is  turned  up  as  it  were  fire."  - 
Further,  the  agencies  affecting  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth 
and  giving  charact^  to  its  scenery,  while  explaining  its  his- 
tory, are  vi\ndly  se\  forth  by  Job,  when  he  says:  "And 
surely  the  mountains  falling  cometh  to  nought  (or  fadeth), 
and  the  rock  is  rcmovltd  out  of  his  place.  The  waters  wear 
the  stones  ;  thou  wash\st  away  the  things  which  grow  out  of 
the  dust  of  the  earth.'  -X   The  very  processes  which  modem 

*  Job  xxvi.  7,  8.  -Job  xxviii.  5.  'Job  xiv.  18,  19. 


CHAP,  v.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  8l 

geologists  are  engaged  in  keenly  discussing,  as  accounting 
for  the  variety  of  our  Scottish  scenery,  are  specified  in  the 
language  of  the  patriarch.  Comprehensively,  these  delinea- 
tions in  Scripture  may  possibly  represent  universal  geologic 
movements. 

9.  But  still  further,  while  the  changes  proceeding  on  the 
land-surface,  in  relation  to  its  mountains,  valleys,  and  rivers, 
are  incidentally  noticed  in  such  general  temns  as  any 
geologist  might  employ,  the  character  of  the  great  ocean 
itself  is  found  to  be  in  strict  conformity  to  the  command  of 
God,  that  "the  water  bring  forth  abundantly  the  moving 
creature  that  hatli  life."  But  this  was  not  done  until 
a  separation  had  been  made  between  the  sea  and  land,  as 
on  the  third  day,  and  that  river-system  had  been  established 
which  is  related  to  the  saltness  of  the  sea,  the  maintenance 
of  much  of  its  life,  and  the  processes  of  evaporation  neces- 
sary both  for  sea  and  land.  The  theories  as  to  the  origin  of 
the  sea's  saltness  we  need  not  here  discuss  ;  it  is  enough  that 
the  constitution  which  the  Creator  has  given  to  the  ocean  fits 
it  for  abundant  life.  Historically,  the  record  in  Genesis  is 
true.  The  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Great  Ruler  are 
visible  in  every  process,  and  the  prolific  ocean  now  quivers 
with  life.  The  abundance  of  the  living  is  one  of  the  greatest 
"wonders  of  the  deep,"  which  the  microscope  has  revealed 
in  its  own  almost  boundless  universe. 

10.  There  are  various  other  passages  whose  meaning  has 
of  late  become  more  distinct  in  the  light  of  science, — as,  for 
example,  Leviticus  xvii.  11,  which  recent  physiological 
inquiries  have  illustrated ;  and  also,  Job  xiv.  7-9,  and  Job 
xxviii.  1-6,  in  which  we  have  v.-hat  have  been  regarded  as 
the  oldest  and  most  instructive  notices  of  Natural  History 
in  existence  ;  but  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  press  them  into 
this  general  argmnent. 

G 


82  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  V. 

Although  these  allusions  in  the  Word  of  God,  as  coinciding 
with  facts  in  His  Works,  may  not  be  regarded  by  many 
as  convejang  any  very  decided  evidence  of  a  positive  kind 
for  the  harmony  of  both ;  yet  it  will  be  admitted  they  are  of 
special  subsidiary  \alue  when  contrasted  with  those  unin- 
spired histories  of  the  world  which  have  been  given  forth  in 
succeeding  ages,  and  in  different  lands,  not  one  of  whose 
general  outlines  can,  for  an  instant,  bear  the  application  of 
those  crucial  tests  which  even  the  allusions  of  Scripture  not 
only  sustain  but  welcome,  as  often,  if  not  always,  more  fully 
eliciting  their  meaning. 

Let  it  be  understood,  that  it  is  only  on  this  ground  we 
have  submitted  these  considerations  for  acceptance ;  and 
that  we  do  not  regard  them  as  constituting  more  than 
incidental  or  subordinate  proof.  \\Tiile  we  freely  acknow- 
ledge that  the  Scriptures  represent  facts  in  those  aspects 
which  are  most  familiar  to  ordinary  obser\-ation,  and  not  in 
their  more  recondite  or  exactly  scientific  relations,  we  may 
legitimately  reason  that  these  references  or  allusions  are 
indicative  of  the  accuracy  and  value  of  the  Bible,  when  we 
find  it  covering  at  once  the  results  of  common  experience 
and  the  more  recent  discoveries  of  science. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Geologic  Fulness  of  Time  when  Ma7i  appeared. 

"  It  is  surely  no  incredible  thing,  that  He  who,  in  the  dispensation  of 
the  human  period,  spake  by  type  and  symbol,  and  \vho,  when  He 
walked  the  earth  in  the  flesh,  taught  in  parable  and  allegory,  should 
have  also  spoken  in  the  Geologic  ages  by  prophetic  figures,  embodied 
in  the  form  and  structure  of  animals." — Hugh  Miller. 

IN  the  distant  past,  not  a  trace  of  man's  presence  has 
been  found.  He  is  "  of  yesterday."  While  the  stone 
volume  has  preserved  for  us  the  slight  impressions  of  the  An- 
nelid and  the  foot-trail  of  perished  Molluscs  in  the  soft  mud 
over  which  they  crawled ;  while  it  has  restored  to  us  in  per- 
fect shape  the  delicately-constructed  many-lensed  eye  of 
the  Trilobite,  and  has  kept  exact  record  of  the  death  struggles 
of  fishes  on  the  sands  of  olden  seas;  while  it  has  delineated, 
on  carboniferous  columns,  fern-leaves  exquisitely  delicate  in 
structure  as  the  finest  species  of  modern  times ;  and  while 
the  rain-drops  of  long  bygone  ages  have  left  imprints  which 
reveal  to  us  the  course  which  even  the  wind  followed;  not  a 
trace  of  man  is  visible.  Only  at  the  close  does  he  appear ; 
science  finds  him  where  the  Scriptures  placed  him,  and  sees 
in  him  the  crown  which  continuous  type  had  long  fore- 
shadowed. 

Not  only  are  there  advances  in  animal  structure  which  are 
prophetic  of  man's  higher  organisation,  but,  through  what  at 
one  time  seemed  utterly  confused  and  meaningless,  there  is 
abundant  evidence  of  definite  puq^ose  in  storing  the  earth  with 
those  plants  and  animals  which  are  best  fitted  to  meet  man's 
necessities.     He  was  not  introduced  to  a  barren  region  or 


84  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  VI. 

an  empty  home.  There  clearly  appears,  about  the  time  of  his 
taking  his  place  on  the  earth,  such  a  series  of  adjustments 
for  his  use  and  comfort,  as  cannot  be  even  plausibly  con- 
nected with  the  chance  stniggles  of  natural  selection.  The 
plants  and  animals  which  are  discoverable  only  in  compara- 
tively recent  periods,  are  so  numerous  and  so  fully  suited 
to  the  wants  of  man,  that  we  cannot  find  an  exi)lanation  of 
this  harmony  of  production  apart  from  Purpose  in  relation 
to  him.  Plants,  fishes,  quadrupeds,  and  even  the  delicate 
distribution  of  colours,  furnish  evidence  which  is  by  far 
too  commonly  overlooked.  We  can  do  little  more  than 
allude  to  some  of  the  leading  facts  which  have  been  brought 
A\it]iin  the  easy  reach  of  every  inquirer.  Agassiz  and  Hugh 
Miller  have  given  special  prominence  to  the  proof  of  a 
gradual  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man. 

I.  As  to  Plants. — Not  until  we  enter  on  the  Tertiary 
period  do  we  find  flowers,  amid  which  man  might  have  pro- 
fitably laboured  as  a  dresser  of  gardens,  a  tiller  of  fields,  or 
a  keeper  of  flocks  and  herds.  Not,  indeed,  until  late  in  this 
period,  is  there  any  appearance  of  several  orders  and  families 
of  i^lants  which  are  useful  to  man,  and  which  contribute 
largely  to  his  pleasure.  Among  these  orders  we  may  men- 
tion that  of  the  Rosacea,  to  which  gardeners  invariably  look 
with  unfailing  interest.  It  includes  the  apple,  the  pear,  the 
cherr)',  the  plum,  the  peach,  the  apricot,  the  nectarine,  the 
raspberry,  the  strawberry;  nor  ought  we  to  omit  reference  to 
those  delight-giving  and  usefiil  flowers,  roses  and  potentillas, 
the  history-  of  which  commenced  with  that  of  Man.  ^ 

It  is  no  less  remarkable  that  the  true  grasses, — a  still 
more  important  order, — including  the  grain-giving  plants, 
oats,  barley,  wheat,  and  others,  which  sustain  "at  least  two- 

'  See  •'Testimony  of  the  Rocks,"  p.  48. 


CHAP.  VI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  85 

thirds  of  the  human  species,"  and  which  also,  "  in  their 
humble  varieties,  form  the  staple  food  of  the  ^'■/'tz^/;^^'- animals," 
do  not  appear  until  close  on  the  human  period.  There  are 
other  plants,  also,  which  add  to  man's  comfort  or  gratify  his 
senses,  which  are  not  found  in  the  fossil  state, — lavender, 
mint,  thyme,  hyssop,  basil,  rosemary,  marjoram.  They 
have  apparently  been  introduced  to  prepare  for  man  their 
varied  fragrance  and  virtues. 

2.  As  to  Fishes. — And  not  until  this  recent  period  did  the 
sea  become  the  home  oi fishes  that  could  prove  nutritious  or 
tasteful  to  man.  A  review  of  the  various  changes  which 
have  appeared  at  different  periods  in  the  history  of  fishes, 
leads  to  this  inference.  Professor  Owen  has  distinctly 
stated  "  that  those  species,  such  as  the  nutritious  cod,  the 
savoury  herring,  the  rich-flavoured  salmon,  and  the  succulent 
turbot,"  displaced  immediately  before  man's  advent  those 
species  which  were  coarse  and  unsuitable  food ;  but  then 
and  subsequently  they  became  very  abundant. 

3.  As  to  Quadrupeds. — ^Vhile  we  admit  the  weakness  of 
merely  negative  statements  in  establishing  any  fact,  there  is 
yet  so  much  that  is  forcible  in  the  absence  from  the  fossil 
state  of  so  many  of  those  life-forms  which  now  surround  man, 
that  we  are  justifiable  in  explicitly  referring  to  it  as  probable 
evidence.  No  geologist  denies  that  the  gigantic  forms  of 
Mammalian  life,  by  which  the  Miocene  and  Pliocene  period 
were  distinguished,  ceased  near  the  time  of  man's  appear- 
ance ;  and  that  only  a  few  of  those  larger  animals  remained 
which  were  not  inconsistent  with  his  safety  and  comfort. 
Nor  will  any  hesitate  to  admit  that,  as  new  plants  then  ap- 
peared, so  also  quadrupeds  not  kno\\Ti  before  took  the 
place  of  those  which  had  passed  away.  Among  them  the 
sheep  is  conspicuous,  not  only  for  its  own  qualities,  but  for 
the  extent  to  which  it  has  ever  ministered  to  the  \'arious 


^6  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VI. 

wants  of  man.  Hugh  Miller,  ^\'ith  evident  delight,  describes 
the  peculiar  adaptation  of  this  favourite  animal  to  the 
necessities  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  human  race,  as  "  that 
soft  and  harmless  creature  that  clothes  civilised  man  every- 
where in  the  colder  latitudes  with  its  fleece, — that  feeds  him 
with  its  flesh, — that  gives  its  bowels  to  be  spun  into  the 
catgut  with  which  he  refits  his  musical  instmments, — whose 
horns  he  has  learned  to  fashion  into  a  thousand  useful 
trinkets, — and  whose  skin,  converted  into  parchment,  served 
to  convey  to  later  times  the  thinking  of  the  first  full  blow  of 
the  human  intellect  across  the  dreary  gulf  of  the  Middle 
Ages."  While  some  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  importance  of 
the  contemporaneous  connection  with  man  of  such  plants 
and  animals  as  we  have  specified,  no  theistic  evolutionist  of 
note  for  attainments  in  science  hesitates  to  admit  that  they 
were  at  least  indirectly  preparatory  to  man's  advent. 

4.  As  to  Colour. — There  is  distinct  e\idence  of  prepara- 
tion for  man  in  the  distribution  and  adjustments  of  colour, 
which  alone  must  interest  every  student  of  the  Bible  and  the 
natural  sciences.  The  very  appearance  of  all  things  has 
been  adapted  to  the  human  constitution.  This  important 
fact  has  been  commonly  overlooked.  The  notion  had  long 
prevailed  that  there  was  no  law  in  the  distribution  of 
colours ;  but  this  error  has  been  corrected.  The  subject 
has  been  elaborately  discussed  by  Dr.  Dickie  and  Principal 
M'Cosh,  who  have  shown  that  there  is,  in  flowers,  a  per- 
manent relation  between  y&rw  and  colour,  and  an  unfailing 
harmony  in  the  distribution  of  colours  in  the  same  plant. 

True,  it  cannot  yet  be  demonstrated  that  these  relations 
rest  on  a  scientific  basis,  so  as  to  connect  the  adjustments  in 
colours  with  resthetic  tendencies  or  laws  in  the  human 
mind ;  yet  the  evidence  warrants  the  conclusion  that  there 
has  been  a  gradual  evolution  of  fonns  and  colours  until 


CHAP.  VI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  87 

those  results  have  been  educed  most  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and 
of  which  there  is  no  manifestation  until  about  the  time  when 
man  was  created. 

Assuming  that  in  successive  geologic  periods  plants  have 
been  formed  according  to  the  same  law, — an  assumption 
fairly  warranted  by  facts, — Dr.  Dickie  has  inferred  that  the 
association  of  colours  A\dll  be  similar, — that  is,  they  will 
harmonise  with  the  fonns  of  the  plants.  Accordingly,  the 
prevailing  colours  in  any  geologic  period  may  be  determined 
by  the  prevailing  forms  of  its  vegetable  life.  In  the  earlier 
geological  periods, — when  ferns  were  the  chief  forms, — green, 
purple,  and  russet  gave  the  landscape  a  sombre  character ; 
and  in  a  subsequent  stage,  when  cone-bearing  plants  rose 
every^vhere,  the  general  dulness  was  but  little  lessened. 
Not  until  the  beginning  of  the  chalk  formation,  is  there  a 
very  evident  advance  towards  existing  forms  and  colours. 
Not,  indeed,  until  the  latest  period, — that  nearest  to  man, — 
do  we  find  the  flowers  which  most  enhance  our  pleasures 
invested  with  their  fascinating  hues,  and  so  arranged  as  to 
exhibit  those  principles  of  science  which  Schools  of  Art  are 
struggling  to  represent.  "In  a  skilful  piece  of  art,  the  more 
prominent  figures  are  made  to  rise  out  of  colours  which 
attract  no  notice.  It  is  the  same  in  the  beautiful  canvas 
which  is  spread  out  before  us  in  earth  and  sky.  The  ground- 
colours of  nature,  if  not  all  neutral,  are  at  least  all  soft  and 
retiring.  How  grateful  should  we  be  that  the  sky  is  not  usually 
dressed  in  red;  that  the  clouds  are  not  painted  crimson;  that 
the  carpet  of  grass  on  which  we  tread  is  not  yellow,  and  the 
trees  are  not  decked  with  orange  leaves  !  The  soil,  in  most 
places  is  a  sort  of  brown  ;  the  mature  trunks  of  trees  com- 
monly take  some  kind  of  neutral  hue  ;  the  true  colour  of  the 
sky  is  a  soft  blue,  except  when  covered  with  grey  clouds ; 
and  the  foliage  of  vegetation  is  a  refreshing  green.     It  is  out 


88  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  VI. 

from  the  midst  of  these  that  the  more  regular  and  elegant 
forms,  and  the  gayer  colours  of  nature,  come  forth  to  arrest 
the  attention,  to  excite  and  dazzle  us,  not  only  by  their  own 
splendour,  but  by  comparison  and  contrast."  ^ 

Pains  must  be  taken  by  art  students  to  determine  what 
colours  should  be  in  juxtaposition,  and  what  kept  at  a 
distance  from  each  other.  In  the  manufacture  of  our  finest 
fabrics,  and  in  staining  glass  for  windows,  no  one  neglects 
those  rules  which  are  prescribed  by  science  and  sanctioned 
by  experience;  but  it  is  only  recently  in  the  history  of 
our  civilisation  that  we  have  discovered  those  principles 
according  to  which  colours  in  nature  have  been  associated 
from  the  beginning.  The  colours  suit  us.  They  meet  our 
taste ;  they  delighted  us  in  childhood  and  they  please  us  in 
our  advancing  years.  Not  a  flower  in  the  field  or  the  forest, 
not  a  coloured  shell  in  sea  or  river,  that  fails  to  illustrate  or 
exemplify  permanent  principles.  Even  the  commonest  of 
all  our  early  favourites  shows  the  beautiful  distribution  of 
colours  with  as  much  exactness  as  the  cell  of  the  honey-bee 
or  the  whorl  of  the  shell  its  mechanical  lines. 

How  is  it  that  the  plants,  the  land  animals,  and  the  fishes, 
most  conducive  to  man's  wellbeing,  only  first  exist  when  he 
comes  in  view?  how  is  it  that  the  minerals,  the  metals,  the 
coals,  the  salt,  all  the  things  he  needs,  are  stored  within 
his  reach  ?  how  is  it  that  not  until  near  the  human  period, 
the  colours  in  nature  are  so  harmonised  alike  in  their  gayer 
and  their  most  subdued  aspects,  as  most  to  give  him  de- 
light ?  and  how  has  man  become  so  constituted  as  to  be  in 
such  delicate  relation  to  all  around  him  ?  Surely  there  is 
benevolent  purpose  in  all  this. 

In  his  well-known  work  on  "  The  Origin  of  Species,"  Mr. 

^  "Typical  Forms  and  Special  Ends,"'  pp.  152,153. 


CHAP.  VI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  89 

Darwin  asks  us  to  believe  that  these  beautiful  adaptations 
are  not  in  the  least  due  to  design,  but  to  the  sIoav  opera- 
tions and  decisions  of  natural  selection,  if  indeed  there  can 
be  decision  without  design.  The  very  colours  which  man 
most  admires  are,  according  to  this  school  of  theorists,  in  no 
way  representative  of  purpose.  That  the  sky  is  blue  and 
not  scarlet,  that  the  leaves  of  the  landscape  are  not  yellow 
and  the  soil  not  crimson,  are  the  chance  evolutions  of  this 
mysterious  something,  which  has  neither  intelligence  nor  be- 
ginning of  days.  The  mere  suggestion  that  all  this  wealth 
of  beauty  in  varied  colours,  and  proportion  in  form,  and 
gracefulness  of  movement,  and  the  tint  of  the  atmosphere,  are 
in  any  respect  an  end  and  not  accidental,  Mr.  Danvin  resent- 
fully rejects.  They  are  with  him  no  part  of  a  p/aii,  nor  are 
they  intended  to  please.  It  is  really  difficult  to  believe  in 
the  possibility  of  such  convictions  as  are  seriously  asserted. 
"  Some  naturalists,"  he  says,  "  believe  that  very  many  stnic- 
tures  Imve  been  created  for  beauty  in  the  eyes  of  men,  or  for 
mere  variety.  This  doctrine,  if  true,  would  be  absolutely  fatal 
to  my  theory."  ^  It  comes  to  this,  that  the  theory  which 
we  are  asked  to  accept  instead  of  that  record  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  is  one  which  gives  beauty  without  an  end, 
laws  without  an  author,  works  without  a  maker,  and  co- 
ordination without  design.  ^  He  excludes  from  creation  the 
idea  of  intended  beauty.  Man's  history  began,  he  knows 
not  how,  millions  of  millions  of  years  ago,  in  that  first  germ 
of  Hfe  out  of  which  have  been  developed  all  plants  and 
animals,  by  those  processes,  complicated  and  undefinable, 
which  transpired,  until,  at  last,  he  rose  on  the  theatre  of  life, 
its  crown  and  glory,  "  fearfully  made  "  in  body  and  still  more 
mysteriously  framed  in  spirit.  To  these  facts  we  shall  more 
fully  direct  attention  at  a  subsequent  stage. 

1  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  219.     "  See  Phillips's  "  Life  on  Earth,"  p.  63. 


90  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  vi. 

With  what  majestic  comprehensiveness  and  precision  must 
Natural  Selection  have  guided  all  processes  and  struggles, 
when  the  lowest  lichen  or  simplest  spore  has  risen  to  be  the 
apple  tree,  the  peach,  the  plum,  the  nectarine,  the  wheat, 
the  thyme,  and  the  other  grains  and  herbs  necessary  for 
man  just  before  he  came ;  with  what  precision  have  the 
lowest  worms  risen  to  be  the  fishes,  the  birds,  and  the 
quadnipeds  he  most  needed  ;  and  with  what  astonishing 
parallel  exactness  have  the  chemical  processes  kept  pace  with 
all  other  movements  in  earth,  and  sea,  and  sky,  when,  in  the 
use  of  the  soil,  in  the  structure  of  plants,  in  their  form,  in 
their  foliage,  in  their  flowers,  there  issued  at  last  the  distri- 
bution of  those  very  forais  and  colours  which  not  only  most 
conduce  to  man's  comfort,  but  most  gratify  his  taste  !  In 
separate  spheres  and  without  connection, — in  the  inorganic 
masses  of  the  globe, — in  plant  and  animal  life, — in  the 
atmospliere  and  in  the  hea\ens, — through  long,  fitful,  imper- 
fect, and  frequently  unfinished  processes, — natural  selection 
has  thus  been  at  work,  and  without  a  purpose,  or  design,  or 
end  in  any  shape,  has  given  to  the  world  its  present  wondrous 
stnicture,  and  to  all  life  its  present  subtle  characters.  Does 
this  whole  theory  not  draw  excessively  on  our  imagination, 
and  raise  difficulties  incomparably  greater  than  all  those  which 
Rationalism  has  conjured  up  against  the  miracles  of  the 
Bible? 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Bible  Account  of  Man's  Origin — The  Opinion  that  he 
was  Miraculously  Born  —  The  Theory  that  he  ivas 
Naturally  Da'cloped. 

"  What  man  holds  of  matter,  does  not  make  up  his  personality.  Man 
is  not  an  organism,  he  is  an  intelligence  served  by  organs  ;  they  are 
his, — not  he." — Sir  William  ffamiltoii. 

HAVING  examined  the  geological  evidence,  showing 
the  preparation  of  the  earth  for  the  human  race,  let 
us  next  inquire  into 

I. — Man's  Origin. 

'Wlience  is  man?  Was  he  miraculously  born  of  some 
creature  nearly  human,  as  some  Christian  apologists  are  dis- 
posed to  believe  ?  Was  he  evolved  from  some  germ  of  life 
originated  untold  ages  ago,  as  some  naturalists  have  en- 
deavoured to  demonstrate  ?  or  was  he  miraculously  made  of 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  as  the  Scriptures  have  distinctly 
affirmed.  While  we  have  been  taught  to  accept  what  the 
Scriptures  have  declared  on  this  subject,  we  are  not  at  liberty 
to  disregard  those  difficulties  which  have  weighed  with  others, 
nor  the  solutions  which  have  satisfied  them.  Let  us  examine 
those  accounts  of  man's  origin  which  are  at  present  most 
engaging  attention. 

I.  The  Bible  Account. — It  has,  at  least,  the  merit  of  ex- 
plicitness,  and  is  thoroughly  intelligible.  "  And  God  said, 
Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness ;  and  let 
them  have  dominion  over'  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the 
fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  all  the  cattle,  and  over  every 
creeping  thing  that  creepeth  on  the  earth.     So  God  created 


92  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 


man  in  his  o^^^l  image  :  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him ; 
male  and  female  created  he  them.'"  ^  "And  the  Lord  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his 
nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  - 
If  these  passages  teach  any  tnith  with  greater  emphasis  than 
another,  it  is  that,  by  the  creative  act  of  God,  man  was  made 
perfect  in  relation  to  bodily  vigour  and  intellectual  capacity. 
Of  the  mode  by  which  there  arose  out  of  dust  a  body 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  nothing  is  told  us ;  but  the 
fact  is  distinctly  stated.  A  higher  being  had  appeared,  con- 
nected with  the  earth  and  largely  dependent  on  it,  and  yet 
not  originated  by  it.  The  peculiarities  of  the  record  are 
specially  noteworthy. 

First,  it  is  said,  "Zr/  us  make  man."  To  no  other  creative 
act  is  there  the  same  introduction.  Man's  appearance  is 
thus  separated  from  all  that  had  gone  before.  It  is  made 
the  occasion  of  a  fuller  revelation  of  truth ;  for  a  glimpse  is 
given  of  the  great  doctrine  of  more  than  one  person  in  the 
Godhead.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  begins  thus  early  to 
be  unfolded. 

The  j^i-£7//rtf  peculiarity  is  in  the  statement,  "  Let  us  make 
man  ///  our  image,  after  [or  according  to]  our  likeness:'  In- 
genious and  subtle  distinctions  have  been  frequently  drawn 
between  the  descriptive  terms,  "in  our  image"  and  "after 
our  likeness";  but  wc  prefer  the  oi)inion  of  the  older  theolo- 
gians, who  regard  both  as  combined  to  give  intensity  to  the 
same  thought.  "Imageand  likeness,"  says  Dr.  Hodge,  "means 
an  image  which  is  like."  God  gave  to  the  body  a  perfect 
organisation,  breathed  natural  life  into  it,  and  imparted  to 
"  vian  "  his  "  oiun  image."  This  combination  of  the  terms 
"  image  "  and  "  likeness,"  seems  intended  to  express  man's 

^  Genesis  i.  26,  27.         ■■'  Genesis  ii.  7. 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  93 

personality,  and  his  resemblance  to  the  infinite  and  uncreated 
in  every  way  possible  with  a  being  finite  and  created.  ^ 
Man,  accordingly,  though  at  an  immeasurable  distance  from 
the  Infinite  I  Am,  has  knowledge,  wisdom,  power,  and 
therefore  dominion  over  all  that  has  been  placed  within  the 
sphere  of  his  influence.  As  he  was  intellectual  and  could 
knoiv,  as  he  was  moral  and  could  love,  he  had  a  sway  which 
no  other  creature  on  earth  can  wield.  With  these  forces 
combined,  he  came  forth  controlling  all  the  resources  of 
nature  which  were  placed  within  his  reach ;  and  in  possess- 
ing this  spirit,  he  could  be  rightfully  regarded  as  the  lord 
of  this  lower  world  and  as  the  representative  of  Deity.  In 
further  exposition  of  his  character,  it  is  said,  "  God  made 
man  upright."  Intellectually  and  morally  he  was  perfect,  his 
powers  were  rightly  balanced,  his  energies  were  consistently 
directed,  and  holiness  made  lustrous  all  his  history.  The 
New  Testament  sheds  fuller  light  on  the  inner  aspects  of  his 
character  now,  through  two  parallel  statements  by  the  apostle, 
descriptive  of  the  believer,  as  having  "  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of  Him  that 
created  him,"  -  and  "  which  after  God  is  created  in  right- 
eousness and  true  holiness."  ^ 

Man  thus  connects  two  worlds,  and  therein  lies  his 
incomparable  pre-eminence ;  yet  his  true  superiority  arises 
not  from  his  relations  to  the  living  creatures  that  are  around 
and  beneath  him,  but  from  his  upward  connection  and  his 
being  "  in  the  image"  of  God  the  Creator. 

The  third  peculiarity,  is  the  reference  to  woman  as  made 
also  with  the  same  nature  and  endo^vments.      In  the  other 


^  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject,  see  "Creation  and  the  Fall," 
by  the  Rev.  D.  MacDonald,  Excursus  I.  ;   "Man,  the  Image  of  God," 
and  "  Systematic  Theology, ",'by  Dr.  Hodge,  vol.  II.,  pp.  96,  102. 
-  Colossians  iii.  10.  ^  Ephesians  iv.  24, 


94  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  VII. 

references  to  new  races  in  the  first  narrative,  there  is  no 
allusion  to  the  female.  And  not  only  is  Eve  spoken  of  by 
Adam  as  "  bone  of  his  bones  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,"  but  she 
is  included  in  the  description  as  being  formed  in  the  image  of 
God.  The  statement  is  too  emphatic  to  admit  of  its  being 
explained  away,  "  So  God  created  man  in  his  o-ii>n  image,  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him;  male  and  female  created 
he  them."  Their  equality  is  here  clearly  set  forth  in  their 
origin,  in  their  dependence  on  God,  in  their  responsibility 
to  Him,  and  in  their  possession  of  spiritual  privileges.  No 
marx'el  that  Fichte,  the  celebrated  German,  marking  these 
realities,  and  bounding  over  the  barriers  of  an  infidel 
philosophy,  ^\T0te  with  fervour, — "  Who  then  educated  the 
first  human  pair?  A  Spirit  bestowed  its  care  upon  them, 
as  is  laid  down  in  an  ancient  and  venerable  record,  which, 
taken  altogether,  contains  the  profoundest  and  the  loftiest 
wisdom,  and  presents  those  results  to  which  all  philosophy 
must  yet  return." 

Assuredly,  the  more  closely  this  singular  narrative  is 
examined,  the  more  deeply  impressive  does  it  become,  as 
other  and  seemingly-distant  tmths  are  discovered  to  be 
in\\TOught  witli  it.  Tlie  mode  of  man's  introduction  is 
perfectly  comformablc  to  his  lofty  personality,  as  that  of  the 
lower  animals  is  to  their  impersonality.  And  as  man's 
history,  in  this  dispensation,  begins  with  tlie  constitution  of 
his  body,  with  the  in-breathing  of  life,  and  the  imparting  of 
God's  image,  so  at  the  commencement  of  his  heavenly 
history  there  will  again,  we  are  told,  be  a  fashioning  of  his 
body  "  like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body,  according  to  the 
working  whereby  He  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto 
Himself"  And  the  sanctified  spirit  entering  that  body  shall 
bear  His  image:  "We  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is."     The  first  stage  in  man's  earthly  course  is 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  95 

thus  typical  of  that  on  which  he  shall  enter  at  the  resurrec- 
tion. Connections  that  are  illimitable,  and  of  surpassing 
interest,  here  open  to  our  view ;  but  to  trace  them  further  is 
inconsistent  with  the  object  of  our  present  exposition. 

2.  The  opinion  that  man  loas  miraculously  born,  next 
claims  our  consideration,  as  having  been,  of  late,  pressed  on 
the  attention  of  the  Christian  public  by  some  whose  sincere 
acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  cannot  be 
questioned.  They  suppose  that  our  first  parents  were  not 
formed  at  once  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  but  that,  in 
some  mysterious  way,  they  were  "born"  as  human  of  some  of 
the  lower  animals.  The  translator  of  Lange's  Commentary 
of  Genesis  seems  to  entertain  this  opinion.  In  a  foot-note, 
p.  211,  he  says — "  But  this  does  not  exclude  the  idea  that 
the  human  physical  was  connected  with  the  previous  nature, 
or  natures,  and  ivas  brought  out  of  them.  That  is,  it  was 
made  from  the  earth,  in  the  widest  signification  of  the  term." 
And  after  alluding  to  the  difficulties  connected  with  the 
idea  of  an  outward  image  or  organisation,  he  asks,  "  What 
difficulty  or  danger,  then,  in  giving  to  the  phrase  '  from  the 
earth '  the  widest  sense  consistent  with  the  idea  of  man's 
having  an  earthly  as  well  as  a  heavenly  origin  ? "  As  the 
Duke  of  Argyll  in  his  admirable  work,  the  Reign  of  Law, 
has  given  prominence  to  this  interpretation,  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  its  bearing  on  the  general  discussion  as  to  the 
Bible  record.  As  the  reasoning  of  M.  Guizot  has  formed  a 
serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  this  opinion,  it  is  desirable  to 
reproduce  it  here.  In  answer  to  the  question,  By  what 
means  and  by  what  power  has  the  human  race  commenced 
on  Earth  ?  he  says, — "  There  can  be  but  two  explanations 
of  man's  origin  :  either  he  has  been  produced  by  the  proper 
and  innate  labour  of  the  natural  forces  of  matter  ;  or  he  is 
tlie  work  of  a  supernatural  power — external  to,  and  superior 


96  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 


to,  matter.  His  appearance  here  below  requires  one  of  two 
causes, — spontaneous  generation  or  creation."  He  argues 
that,  as  the  earth  could  not  of  itself  originate  man  and 
woman, — the  human  pair  entirely  formed  and  full-grown, — 
the  only  other  supposition,  apart  from  supernatural  in- 
fluence, is,  that  they  were  originated  by  spontaneous  gene- 
ration. It  is  only  under  such  a  condition  that  man  could 
have  lived  or  perpetuated  himself,  and  have  founded  the 
human  race  "  Let  us  figure  to  ourselves,"  he  says,  "  the 
first-born  man  in  a  state  of  early  infancy,  living,  but  inert, 
unintelligent,  helpless,  incapable  of  suppl)nng  his  own  wants, 
trembling  and  moaning,  with  no  mother  to  hear  or  nourish 
him."  Rejecting  this  supposition,  he  insists  that  the  other 
origin  of  the  human  race  alone  is  admissible,  and  that  man's 
first  appearance  in  this  lower  world  can  be  explained  only 
by  the  supernatural  fact  of  creation.  ^ 

The  Duke  of  Argyll  pronounces  this  "a  common,  but 
not  a  very  safe  argimient ; "  and  adds,  "  To  accept  the 
primeval  narrative  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  as  coming  from 
authority,  and  as  bringing  before  us  the  personal  agency  of 
the  Creator,  but  without  purporting  to  reveal  the  method  of 
this  work — this  is  one  thing.  To  argue  that  no  other  origin 
for  the  first  parents  of  the  human  race  is  conceivable  than 
that  they  were  moulded  perfect,  without  the  instnmientality 
of  means — this  is  quite  another  thing.  The  various  hy])Otheses 
of  development,  of  which  Dar^vin's  theory  is  only  a  new  and 
special  version,  whether  they  are  probable  or  not,  are  at 
least   advanced  as  aftbrding    a    possible   escape   from   the 

'  "  Evidemment,  I'autrc  originc  du  genre  humain  est  seul  admissible, 
seiil  possible.  Le  fait  sumaturel  de  la  creation  cxplique  seul  la  premiire 
apparition  de  I'homme  icc-bas." — L'Eglise  et  la  Societe  Chretienne  en 
1861.  A  Translation  of  M.  Guizot's  work  has  been  publishetl  by  R. 
Bcnllcy,  London. 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  97 

puzzle  which  M.  Guizot  puts.  These  hypotheses  are  indeed 
destitute  of  proof;  and  in  the  form  which  they  have  yet 
assumed,  it  may  justly  be  said  that  they  involve  such 
violations  of,  or  departures  from,  all  that  we  know  of  the 
existing  order  of  things,  as  to  deprive  them  of  all  scientific 
basis.  But  the  close  and  mysterious  relations  between  the 
mere  animal  frame  of  man,  and  that  of  the  lower  animals, 
does  render  the  idea  of  a  common  relationship  by  descent 
at  least  conceivable.  Indeed,  in  proportion  as  it  seems  to 
approach  nearer  to  processes  of  which  we  have  some  know- 
ledge, it  is,  in  degree,  more  conceivable  than  creation  with- 
out any  process, — of  which  we  have  no  knowledge,  and  can 
have  no  conception."  ^ 

In  what  respect  M.  Guizot's  argument  is  unsafe,  does  not 
readily  appear.  He  directly  connects  the  creation  of  man  with 
the  supernatural  in  that  form  which  the  Bible  seems  literally 
to  describe,  and  by  which  the  argument  is  disentangled  from 
those  difficulties  which  a  helpless  infancy,  and  one  of  the 
lower  animals  as  mother,  present.  The  anxiety  of  his  Grace 
to  secure  a  safe  position  between  those  who  accept  the  Bible 
statement  as  it  stands,  and  those  who  follow  Darwin's  theory, 
leads  him  to  enunciate  principles,  the  legitimate  application 
of  which  is  depreciatory  of  the  historical  directness  of  the 
Scripture  narrative.  In  his  attempt  to  bring  the  Super- 
natural— that  is  to  say,  the  Superhuman  and  the  Super- 
material — "nearer  us"  than  M.  Guizot's  argument  does,  or 
rather  to  find  a  place  for  the  fonnation  of  man,  with  as  few 
physiological  difficulties  as  possible,  his  Grace,  as  it  appears  to 
us,  has  quite  yielded  the  key  to  the  Danvinian  theorist.  While 
he  accepts  the  primeval  narrative  as  coming  from  authority, 
and  as  revealing  the  personal   agency  of  the  Creator,  he 

^  "  Reign  of  Law,"  pp.  28,  29. 
H 


98  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  Vll. 

not  only  characterises  as  a  "puzzle"  the  reasoning  of  M. 
Guizot,  that  by  the  exigencies  of  life  the  human  race  must  have 
had  a  higher  beginning  than  in  the  helplessness  of  infancy, 
but  he  indicates  a  preference  for  the  development  hypo- 
thesis, as  "at  least  conceivable"  and  "as  affording  a  pos- 
sible escape  from  the  puzzle  which  M.  Guizot  puts."  His 
Grace's  interpretation  of  the  words  "  out  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,"  has  been  expressed  as  follows: — "The  narrative 
of  creation  is  given  to  us  in  abstract  only,  and  is  told  in  two 
different  forms,  both  having  apparently  for  their  main,  per- 
haps their  exclusive  object,  the  presenting  to  our  conception 
the  personal  agency  of  a  living  God.  Yet  this  narrative  in- 
dicates, however  slightly,  that  room  is  left  for  the  idea  of  a 
material  process.  '  Out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,'  that  is, 
out  of  the  ordinar)-  elements  of  nature,  was  that  body  formed, 
which  is  still  upheld  and  perpetuated  by  organic  forces. 
Nothing  which  science  has  discovered,  or  can  discover,  is 
capable  of  traversing  that  simple  narrative."  ^  "  But  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  method  or  process  of  creation,  it  is 
creation  still.  If  it  were  proved  to-morrow  that  the  first  man 
was  'born'  from  some  pre-existing  form  of  life,  it  would  still 
be  tnie  that  such  a  birth  must  have  been,  in  every  sense  of 
the  word,  a  new  creation.  It  would  still  be  as  true  that  God 
formed  him  *  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,'  as  it  is  true  that  he 
has  so  formed  every  child  who  is  now  called  to  answer  the  first 
t|uestion  of  all  theologies."  -  His  Grace  prefers  the  supposi- 
tion that  man  was  "  born  "  of  some  animal,  as  itself  made 
of  "  dust "  or  earthly  elements,  because  of  the  close  relations 
between  the  mere  animal  frame  of  man  and  that  of  the  lower 
animals,  and  because  creation  with  a  /nhrss  is  in  a  degree 
more  easily  conceivable  than  creation  without  it. 

'  "  Rcigii  of  Law,"  p.  27.  '  Ibiil,  pp.  29,  30. 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  99 

Divine  interiDOsition  is  admitted,  or  it  is  not ;  if  it  is, 
much  of  his  Grace's  reasoning  as  to  the  Reign  of  Law,  is 
valueless,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  sceptic  are  not  lessened; 
for  he  denies  altogether  the  least  evidence  of  the  super- 
natural. If  it  is  not,  and  if  this  "  new  creation  "  is  nothing 
more  than  a  special  or  singular  result,  evolved  under  the 
Reign  of  Law,  once  and  for  once  only,  there  is  not  much 
difference,  either  historically  or  morally,  between  the  theory 
which  connects  man's  birth  with  one  of  the  lower  animals 
at  a  time  comparatively  recent,  or  places  his  origin,  ages 
ago,  in  some  gemi  or  simple  structure.  The  chief  difference 
between  his  Grace's  interpretation  and  the  theory  of  Mr. 
Darwin,  which  he  repudiates,  is  not  so  much  in  principle  as 
in  time  and  process. 

Insisting  on  the  truth  of  Scripture  as  to  a  personal  Deity, 
and  as  to  the  creation  of  man,  his  Grace  yet  leaves  it  uncer- 
tain whether  man  was  born  in  a  state  of  strength  and  inde- 
pendence sufficient  for  every  claim  made  on  him,  or  in  the 
feebleness  of  infancy,  with  a  hard  and  constant  struggle  for 
existence  before  him.  Nor  does  he  indicate  whether  about 
the  same  time  or  in  the  same  Avay  the  "mother  of  all  living" 
was  born.  We  are  left  to  infer  that  there  were  two  born,  with 
suitable  nearness  in  time,  of  some  ape,  gorilla,  or  other  crea- 
ture nearly  human.  Judging  from  his  Grace's  argument  in 
another  work,  we  should  infer  that'  he  supposes  both  Adam 
and  Eve  were  similarly  "born,"  and  that  they  were  endowed 
at  once  with  so  much  vigour  and  so  much  intelligence,  that  they 
could  maintain  their  supremacy  over  all  existences  around 
them.  In  no  other  way  can  we  understand  his  vigorous 
reasoning  against  Sir  John  Lubbock's  theory,— a  theory  in 
one  respect  similar  to  his  own,— that  the  human  race  is 
descended  from  some  "creature  not  worthy  to  be  called 
a  man."     In  combating  Sir  John  Lubbock's  statements,  his 


100  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 

Grace  successfully  shows  that  man,  with  a  mind  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  animals  around  him,  could  not  "  afford  to  lose 
bestial  proportions  of  body,"  and  adds  :  "  If  the  change  in 
mental  power  came  simultaneously  with  the  change  in  physi- 
cal organisation,  then  it  was  all  that  we  can  ever  know  or 
understand  of  a  new  creation.  There  is  no  ground  what- 
ever for  supposing  that  ordinary  generation  has  been  the 
agency  employed,  seeing  that  no  efforts  similar  in  kind  are 
ever  produced  by  that  agency,  so  far  as  known  to  us."  This 
is  sufficiently  explicit ;  but  if  ordinary  descent  is  not  the 
origin  of  man,  if  some  extraordinary  power  from  without  the 
Reh:;n  of  Law  has  produced  this  solitary  result,  there  is 
nothing  gained  in  the  way  of  lessening  the  difficulties  which 
many  feel  as  to  supernatural  action  ;  and  his  Grace  only 
suggests  a  second  mystery  to  remove  the  first.  His  reason- 
ing appears  to  be  an  unanswerable  refutation  of  his  own  ob- 
jections to  M.  Guizot's  argument  in  favour  of  the  ordinary 
interpretation. 

"  The  unclothed  and  unprotected  condition  of  the  human 
body,"  he  .says,  "  its  comparative  slowness  of  foot,  the 
absence  of  teeth  adapted  for  prehension  or  for  defence,  the 
same  want  of  power  for  similar  purposes  in  the  hands  and 
fingers,  the  bluntness  of  the  sense  of  smell,  such  as  to 
render  it  useless  for  the  detection  of  prey  which  is  con- 
cealed,— all  these  are  features  which  stand  in  strict  and 
harmonious  relation  to  the  mental  powers  of  man.  But 
apart  from  these,  they  would  place  him  at  an  immense  dis- 
advantage in  the  struggle  for  existence.  Tliis,  therefore,  is 
not  the  direction  in  which  the  blind  forces  of  natural 
selection  could  ever  work.  The  creature  '  not  worthy  to  be 
called  a  man,'  to  whom  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  referred  as 
the  progenitor  of  man,  was,  ex  hypofhfs't,  deficient  in  those 
mental  capacities  which  now  distinguish  the  lowest  of  the 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  lOI 

human  race.  To  exist  at  all,  this  creature  must  have  been 
more  animal  in  its  structure ;  it  must  have  had  bodily  powers 
and  organs  more  like  those  of  the  beasts.  The  continual 
improvement  and  perfection  of  these  would  be  the  direction 
of  variation  most  favourable  to  the  continuation  of  the 
species.  These  would  not  be  modified  in  the  direction  of 
greater  weakness  without  inevitable  destruction,  until  first, 
by  the  gift  of  reason  and  of  mental  capacities  of  contrivance, 
there  had  been  established  an  adequate  preparation  for  the 
change.  The  loss  of  speed  or  of  climbing  power  which  is 
in\olved  in  the  fore-arms  becoming  useless  for  locomotion, 
could  not  be  incurred  with  safety  until  the  brain  was  ready 
to  direct  a  hand.  The  foot  could  not  be  allowed  to  part 
with  its  prone  or  prehensile  character,  until  the  powers  of 
reason  and  reflection  had  been  provided  to  justify,  as  it  now 
explains,  the  erect  position  and  the  upward  gaze.  And  so 
through  all  the  innumerable  modifications  of  form  which  are 
the  peculiarities  of  man,  and  which  stand  in  indissoluble 
union  with  his  capacities  of  thought.  The  lowest  degree  of 
intelligence  which  is  now  possessed  by  the  lowest  savage,  is 
not  more  than  enough  to  compensate  him  for  the  weakness 
of  his  frame,  or  to  enable  him  to  maintain  successfully  the 
struggle  for  existence."  ^ 

In  the  light  of  this  forcibly  expressed  argimient  against 
Sir  John  Lubbock's  theory  of  the  descent  of  the  human  race, 
we  are  led  to  infer  that  his  Grace  means  his  explanation  of 
our  first  parents  being  "  born,"  and  not  made,  to  imply  that 
in  this  way  two  beings  were  fomied  with  such  strength  of 
body  and  endowment  of  mind,  at  the  very  outset,  as  to  be 
independent  of  the  difficulties  by  which  such  a  creature  as 
Sir  John  Lubbock  has  imagined,  must  have  been  beset.      If 

^  "Primeval  Man,"  pp.  65-68, 


102  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 

that  is  his  Grace's  view,  it  is  not  only  plausible,  we  admit, 
but  possible,  in  so  far  as  the  examination  of  the  narrative  in 
relation  to  Adam  is  involved, — "  And  the  Lord  God  formed 
man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground;"  but  the  narrative  of  Eve's 
creation  cannot  be  brought  within  its  compass  without 
violence  to  the  principles  of  legitimate  interpretation  :  "And 
the  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and 
he  slept :  and  he  took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the 
flesh  instead  thereof.  And  the  rib,  which  the  Lord  God  had 
taken  from  man,  made  he  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto 
the  man.  And  Adam  said,  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones, 
and  flesh  of  my  flesh :  she  shall  be  caUed  Woman,  because 
she  was  taken  out  of  Man."  ^ 

We  cannot,  by  any  critical  process,  rid  this  statement  of 
the  supernatural ;  nor  have  we  the  means  of  absolutely  de- 
termining the  exact  limits  of  what  is  figurative  and  what 
is  literal.  The  process  is  hidden ;  the  result  is  distinct. 
Christians  whose  bias  of  thinking  is  decidedly  philosophical, 
are  liable  to  be  perplexed  by  merely  relative  difticulties ; 
and  hence  their  apologetic  eftbrts  to  minimise  the  super- 
natural by  substituting  imaginary  conditions ;  as,  for  e.xample, 
an  already  organised  living  creature,  instead  of  the  dust,  as 
tlie  elements  out  of  which  God  formed  man.  In  the  dust 
are  all  the  constituent  elements  of  man's  body;  and  the 
relativity  of  the  miracle  to  organised  dust  in  some  animal 
frame,  or  to  dust  or  earth,  not  living,  is  of  comparatively 
slight  imi)ortance.  The  literal  narrative  is  devoid  even  of 
strangeness  to  those  who  see  in  all  creation  the  work  of 
God's  hand.  When  Reason  is  baftled,  faith  in  the  Word  is 
the  Christian's  guide.  The  connection  of  the  created  wth 
the  will  of  the  Creator,  is  utterly  beyond  our  cognisance ; 

^  Genesis  ii.  21-23. 


CHAP.  Vll.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  I03 

SO  worlds  taking  their  place  in  space — life  beginning  to  throb 
in  a  germ — Adam  and  Eve  formed,  the  one  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground,  and  the  other  out  of  that  dust  organised  and 
living — are  equally  baffling  to  reason,  but  equally  acceptable 
to  faith.  "  Through _/<?////  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  things  which  are  seen 
were  not  made  of  things  which  do  appear,"  While  faith  does 
not  specially  concern  itself  with  one  process  or  mode  more 
than  another,  and  retains  only  the  facts  revealed,  we  may 
freely  concede  to  Christian  expositors  the  liberty  which  they 
claim  in  giving  to  the  phrase,  "  the  dust  of  the  ground,"  the 
widest  sense  consistent  with  the  idea  of  man's  having  an 
earthly  as  well  as  a  heavenly  origin ;  ^  but  we  must  question 
every  supposition  which  increases  rather  than  lessens  diffi- 
culties in  the  fair  reading  of  the  Scripture  narrative.  We 
see  no  warrant  from  either  science,  philosophy,  or  theology, 
for  the  well-meant  attempt  of  his  Grace  to  reduce  the  Scripture 
narrative  to  a  level  on  which  the  "  natural "  might  more  nearly 
approach  the  supernatural,  and  faciUtate  the  acceptance  of 
an  absolute  Reign  of  Law. 

3.  T/ic  theory  of  man's  natural  da'elopment^  by  denying  the 
interposition  of  the  Divine  power  at  the  time  and  in  the 
way  stated  in  the  Bible,  is  influencing  multitudes,  and  we 
cannot  escape  the  conflict  of  opinion  which  it  is  creating, 
AVhat  we  have  to  do,  therefore,  is  to  ascertain  whether  the 
facts  adduced  really  discredit  or  confirm  the  Bible, 

The  various  modifications  of  this  theory  which  have  been 
advocated  from  time  to  time,  we  need  not  wait  to  discuss. 
It  is  enough  to  consider  the  form  in  which  it  has  been  most 
recently  expounded  by  Mr,  Darwin  and  others.  Mr,  Darwin's 
theory  assumes  that  animals  have  descended,  at  most,  from 

^  "  Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  p.  211, 


104  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  vii. 

only  four  or  five  progenitors,  and  plants  from  an  equal  or  lesser 
number;  but  analogy  would  lead  him  farther,  namely,  to  some 
one  prototype.  Accordingly,  he  infers  that  probably  all 
the  organic  beings  which  have  ever  lived  on  this  earth,  have 
descended  from  some  one  form  into  which  life  was  first 
breathed  by  the  Creator, — "  There  is  grandeur  in  this  view  of 
life,  \\'ith  its  several  powers,  having  been  originally  breathed 
by  the  Creator  into  a  few  forms,  or  into  one.""'  And  all  the 
changes  which  have  ever  been  educed  are  due,  he  tells  us, 
to  Natural  Schrtion, — a  force  which,  in  the  history  of  life,  we 
are  to  regard  as  having  wrought  all  those  wonders  which  we 
have  hitherto  connected  with  Intelligence  and  Purpose, 
With  Natural  Selection  for  the  basis  of  his  theory,  Mr. 
Darwin  has  no  further  difficulty  as  to  the  intensity  and  com- 
prehensiveness of  its  applications.  It  accounts  for  every- 
thing connected  with  life  and  its  manifestations.  While 
apparently  undecided  as  to  the  origin  of  life,  he  is  most 
explicit  as  to  the  functions  of  natural  selection,  in  steadfastly 
ruling  the  manifold  and  ceaseless  struggles  for  existence. 

That  his  theory  has  been  supported  by  a  remarkably  ftiU 
and  ingenious  combination  of  facts,  and  that  it  has  com- 
mended itself  to  many  accomplished  naturalists,  cannot  be 
disputed ;  and  yet  there  are  in  it  so  many  serious  defects 
i.nd  breaks,  that  it  is  astonishing  to  us  to  find  any  one 
'^^^  "luting  it  who  requires  even  ordinarily  connected  proof 
relatn,gqyj|j.^g  of  us  to  believe  that,  without  the  slightest  refer- 
irame,  x.  ^^j^^  definite  End  whate\er,  sponges,  molluscs,  frogs, 
slight  i""*!  tikeys,  men,  and  all  other  living  things  have,  in  the 
strangeness  ^^^^  \)qqw  assigned,  by  Natural  Selection  alone, 
God's  hand.  ,  proportions  and  spheres, 
the  Christian  s  ^  ^^  believe,  against  aU  the  evidence  which 
the  will  of  the  Ci 


>pecies,"  p.  570;  fifth  edition,  1869. 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  105 

confronts  us,  that  there  is  no  design  whatever  in  the  manifold 
structures  of  plants  and  animals ;  and  none  in  those  bodies 
of  ours,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  the  varied  relations  of  all  the 
colours  in  nature  are  but  the  result  of  mechanical  and  chemi- 
cal combinations,  framed  by  Natural  Selection;  that  the  blue 
of  the  sky,  the  green  of  the  landscape,  and  the  neutral  tint 
of  nature's  back-ground,  are  without  a  purpose;  that  the 
splendour  of  the  heavens  by  night,  and  the  music  of  the 
grove  as  birds  warble  their  song  by  day,  were  never  intended 
to  give  pleasure,  or  to  conduce  to  the  happiness  of  any 
human  being.  All  these  facts  are  mere  sequences  under  the 
sway  of  Natural  Selection,  which  of  itself  understands  nothing 
and  foresees  nothing.  God,  we  are  told  in  Holy  ^Vrit,  "  hath 
made  everything  beautiful  in  his  time."'"  ^  But  this  theory 
denies  the  intentional  goodness  that  has  enrobed  the  world 
with  that  surpassing  loveliness  on  which  every  eye  delights 
to  rest.  In  making  these  statements,  we  do  Mr.  Danvin 
no  \vrong.  He  has  firmly  refused  to  recognise  beauty 
as  an  end  in  the  history  of  the  globe,  and  goes  so  far  as  to 
state  that  the  admission  would  be  destructive  of  his  theory ; 
even  to  admit  variety  as  an  end,  would  be  fatal  to  it.  Be  it 
so ;  the  theory  is,  in  this  respect,  opposed  not  only  to  the 
Bible  teachings,  but  to  our  intuitions,  our  experience,  and 
our  common  sense. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  the  skill  which  the  bee 
shows  in  the  structure  of  its  cell,  the  ingenuity  of  the  spider 
in  constructing  its  web,  the  mechanical  fitness  in  the 
economy  of  bird-life  and  the  ease  with  which  flight  is  con- 
ducted, the  graceful  movements  of  fishes  in  the  deep  and 
the  rapidity  with  which  some  can  change  their  colour,  are 


*  Ecclesiastes  iii.  11. 


I06  JiLLXDIXG    LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 

all  nothing  more  than  the  mechanical  sequences  of  a  series 
of  facts ; — in  a  word,  they  are  the  mere  unintentional  results 
of  some  blind  force,  controlled  by  an  unintelligent  if  not  in- 
deed unintelligible  power,  which,  after  incalculable  efforts  and 
failures,  finds  something  which  it  leaves  in  a  permanent  state, 
but  of  course,  without  the  remotest  reference  to  that  per- 
manent state  as  an  end. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  the  structure  of  animals, 
their  habits,  and  their  relations  to  climate  and  soil ;  that  the 
exquisitely  delicate  formation  of  the  eye  and  its  relation  to 
light  and  colour ;  and  that  the  adjustment  of  the  ear  to  the 
almost  endless  variety  of  sounds ;  are  meaningless  results. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  man  has  been  evolved  not 
in  conformity  with  any  purpose,  but  merely  amid  the  sequences 
of  events,  by  insensible  degrees,  and  after  innumerable  ex- 
periments and  failures. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  man  has  been  in  every 
creature,  in  every  stage, — from  the  primordial  sea-weed  to  the 
mollusc,  from  the  lowest  mollusc  to  the  serpent,  from  the  ser- 
pent to  the  monkey,  and  from  the  monkey  to  the  highest  ape. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  man  has  travelled  a  long 
and  iximkss  journey,  and  at  last  not  only  enjoys  the  highest 
bodily  organisation,  but  has  intellect,  imagination,  will,  con- 
science, ennobling  aspirations  aftera  higher  state  and  a  happier 
home,  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  an  estimate  of  virtue 
and  vice ;  and  to  rest  assured  that  all  these  have  turned  up 
Anthout  design,  in  desultory  flashes,  or  in  some  other  way 
from  molecular  action,  cerebral  impulses,  or  other  mysterious 
agencies.  There  is  no  other  origin  admissible ;  it  must  be 
accepted  or  rejected.  "  We  must  therefore  place  \irtue,  in  this 
theory,  precisely  on  the  same  footing  with  c\ery  other  attri- 
bute of  every  other  animal,  and  account  for  its  existence  in 
the  same  way ;  that  is,  we  must  say  that  when  the  first  vir- 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  I07 


tuous  men,  or  men  with  a  capacity  to  appreciate  virtue,  were 
accidentally  elaborated,  it  gave  them  a  decided  advantage 
over  all  their  congeners  who  did  not  share  with  them  in  the 
new  quality,  and  so  enabled  them  to  keep  their  place  in  the 
struggle  for  life,  whilst  their  competitors  were  exterminated 
by  that  rigorous  law  which  knows  no  exception.  In  one 
word,  the  men  endowed  with  virtue  exterminated  all  those 
who  lacked  that  endowment." 

"If  this  should  be  a  startling  history  of  the  origin  of  moral 
excellence,  and  if  it  should  be  contradicted  by  all  the 
records  of  our  race,  we  must  nevertheless  believe  that  it 
was  so, — for  the  theory  imperatively  demands  it,  and  cannot 
subsist  mthout  the  supposition."  ^ 

What  evidence  have  we  for  so  sweeping  a  theory  ?  We 
admit,  of  course,  that  there  is  gradation  from  the  lowest  to 
the  highest  forms  of  both  animal  and  plant  life,  and  that 
identity  of  plan  appears'  in  the  structure  of  all  the  verte- 
brated  animals.  The  question  is,  Are  they  all  related 
by  descent 'i  If  they  are,  as  Mr.  Danvin  supposes,  there 
must  be  abundant  traces  of  imperfect,  half-formed,  and 
mutilated  creatures  cast  down  in  the  keen  struggle  of 
life,  and  preserved  for  our  learning  in  the  stohe-volume. 
The  test  is  quite  simple,  it  is  the  suggestion  of  common 
sense, — Are  the  resolute  assertions  of  this  theory  ade- 
quately supported  by  facts  ?  Have  the  links  which  conned 
the  races  been  discovered  ?  Have  the  wrecks  of  coimtless 
experiments  been  found  strewn  over  the  old  surfaces,  and 
embedded  in  them?  The  preceding  lower  and  the  succeed- 
ing higher  organisations  have  been  found, — where  are  the 
intermediate  and  the  immature  beings  ?  Their  presence,  as 
witnesses,  is  indispensable.      Where   is  there  evidence  on 


1  "Darwinian  Theory  Examined,"  pp.  337,  338. 


lo8  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  VII. 

earth,  now,  of  the  pjlgeon  passhig  into  the  crow  or  of  the 
wading  bird  into  the  hawk,  of  the  horse  into  the  cow  or  of 
the  dog  into  the  cat,  or  vice  versa  ?  Granting  that  the  section 
of  time  in  which  we  Hve  has  behind  it  all  the  millions  of 
years  which  Darwin's  theory  demands,  we  should  surely 
find  within  it  some  such  results  as  he  leads  us  to  antici- 
pate. But  it  is  not  so,  the  links  are  awanting;  and  Mr. 
Darwin,  in  acknowledging  this  blank,  admits  that  his  theory 
is  as  yet  proofless.  He  shrouds  the  origin  of  life, — as  to  its 
cause,  and  its  early  development  of  forms, — in  impenetrable 
mystery.  He  hesitates  about  the  Deity  in  the  one,  and  draws 
the  veil  of  millions  of  years  over  the  other.  Theories  are 
safe  practice  amid  vagueness  like  that.  But  is  his  demand 
of  millions  of  years  before  the  Silurian  system,  with  its 
glimpses  of  life,  admissible?  It  is  boldly  made.  "  If  my 
theory  be  true, "  he  says,  '"  it  is  indisputable  that  before  the 
lower  Silurian  stratum  was  deposited,  /ong  periods  elapsed, 
as  long  as,  or  \noho.h\y  far  longer,  than  the  whole  interval 
from  the  Silurian  age  to  the  present  day ;  and  during  these 
vast,  yet  qitite  unknown  periods  of  time,  the  world  swarmed 
with  living  creatures."  He  has  looked  long  into  these 
depths  of  the  past,  yet  no  witnesses  have  come  to  his  aid. 
The  silence  has  been  unbroken,  and  he  confesses  it.  "  To 
the  question  Why  we  do  not  find  records  of  these  vast 
primordial  periods,"  he  replies,  'T  can  give  no  answer, — the 
difficulty  of  understanding  the  absence  of  vast  piles  of 
fossiliferous  strata  Ayhich  on  my  theory,  »o  doubt,  were 
somewhere  accumulated  before  the  Silurian  epoch,  is  very 
great.  The  case,  at  present,  must  remain  inexplicable,  and 
maybe  truly  urged  as  ai  valid  argument  against  the  views 
here  entertained."  The  modesty  of  this  admission  renders 
adverse  criticism  unpleasant.  But  without  dwelling  on  the 
absence   of  facts,   we   may  press    the   necessity  on   such 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLEEDING   LIGHTS.  109 

theorists  of  having  some  regard  to  geological  time.  Fortun- 
ately, the  question  is  finding  ardent  students,  and  investiga- 
tions as  to  the  cooling  of  the  globe,  and  other  relations  in 
its  physical  condition,  are  putting  an  end  to  speculations 
which  assume  many  millions  of  years  before  the  Silurian 
era.  Theorists  like  Mr.  Danvin,  err  egregiously  in  not  in- 
quiring into  the  possibility  of  the  earth's  crust  having, 
millions  of  years  ago,  those  exact  conditions  which  they 
demand.  Palaeontologists  have  found  it  too  often  con- 
venient to  take  refuge  amid  the  mists  of  the  past,  when 
definiteness  has  been  demanded  ;  but  the  recent  investiga- 
tions of  Sir  William  Thomson,  as  we  have  already  stated,  have 
checked  this  thoughtless  extension  of  indefinite  ages,  and 
have  brought  them  to  recognise  in  their  professedly  scientific 
pursuits  the  necessity  of  greater  precision.  As  against  the 
ages  preceding  the  Silurian  period,  there  is  proof  that  the 
conditions  of  the  globe  were  such  as  to  render  the  existence 
of  life  improbable,  if  not  impossible. 

But  taking  the  geological  strata  which  teem  with  fossils, 
we  demand  proof  of  gradual  descent  by  Natural  Selection ; 
and  Mr.  Danvin  does  not  and  cannot  give  it.  He  pleads 
in  excuse  the  incompleteness  of  the  geological  volume  ;  it 
"  is  a  history  of  the  world,"  he  says,  "  imperfectly  kept,  and 
written  in  a  changing  dialect.  Of  this  history,  Ave  possess 
the  last  volume,  relating  only  to  two  or  three  centuries.  Of 
this  volume,  only  here  and  there  a  short  chapter  has  been 
preserved  ;  and  of  each  page,  only  here  and  there  a  few 
lines.  On  this  A^iew,  the  difficulties  above  discussed  are 
greatly  diminished  or  disappear." 

We  cannot  accept  this  apology.  The  most  delicate 
structures  have  been  preserved  in  the  stone-volume ;  and  why 
not,  at  least,  some  of  those  huge  intermediate,  immature,  or 
imperfectly-developed  animals  which  must  ha\e  lived  and 


no  BLEXDT^TG  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 

perished  under  the  sway  of  Natural  Selection  ?  Mr.  Danvin 
does  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  the  number  of  the  perished 
links  has  been  vast, — "  The  number  of  intermediate  and 
transitional  links  between  all  living  and  extinct  species  must 
have  been  inconceivably  great.  But,  assuredly,  if  this 
theory  be  true,  such  have  lived  upon  the  earth."  ^  If  so, 
where  are  they?  How  have  they  disappeared ?  Has  Na- 
tural Selection  been  busy,  also,  with  the  materials  that 
should  be  saved  as  witnesses  of  the  past,  ranging  from  before 
the  Silurian  period  till  now? 

But  granting  the  imperfection  of  the  geological  volume ; 
granting,  indeed,  for  argument's  sake,  all  that  Mr.  Darwin 
demands,  what  of  the  diffused  life  in  the  present  period,  with 
its  almost  endless  diversity  of  form  ?  The  results  of  the 
past  are  before  us  in  the  linng  of  every  climate.  In  every 
condition,  life-forms  are  subject  to  the  tests  of  the  anatomist, 
the  physiologist,  the  chemist,  and  the  metaphysician.  The 
page  is  wide  as  the  world,  and  every  character  is  distinct. 
If,  therefore,  the  theory  has  in  it  any  elements  of  truth,  they 
should  appear  in  animals,  the  living  representatives  of  at 
least  some  of  those  transitions  which  may  not  have  been 
preserved  in  bygone  ages,  or  which,  if  preserved,  have  not 
yet  been  discovered.  Surely,  creatures  at  the  various  in- 
termediate stages  of  blind  experimenting,  should  be  turning 
up  now  and  again ;  for  the  struggles  of  life  are  continued, 
and  Natural  Selection  is  still  supreme.  That  no  such  facts 
are  forthcoming  as  the  interests  of  truth  and  the  ordinary 
principles  of  inductive  reasoning  demand,  should  modify 
the  enthusiasm  of  theorists,  and  warrant  the  rejection  of 
their  dreams. 

No  one  pretends  tliat  the  intermediate  or  immature  links 

'  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  348. 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLEXDIXG  LIGHTS.  HI 

are  discoverable  in  existing  races.  They  are  separated  by 
apparently  insuperable  barriers  to  descent.  Arrest  is  laid 
visibly  on  community  of  species.  What  is  inexplicable  in 
the  past,  is  equally  inexplicable  in  the  present.  It  is  quite 
true  that,  in  Mr.  Darwin's  theory,  "  the  same  number  of 
vertebrae  fonning  the  neck  of  the  giraffe  and  the  elephant, 
at  once  explains  itself  on  the  theory  of  descent  with  slow 
and  successive  modifications ; "  but  is  it  not  equally  true 
that,  on  the  same  theory,  creatures  should  be  discovered 
budding  into  the  giraffe  or  into  the  elephant,  and  that 
transitional  Unks'  should  be  found  between  the  ox  and  the 
mule,  or  between  the  dove  and  the  hawk,  with  the  nature 
and  habits  in  part  of  each,  and  between  all  other  species, 
also,  that  are  distinct  ?  Why  are  there  not  incipient  men 
and  incipient  women,  half  man  and  half  lower  animal,  or 
two-thirds  woman  and  one-third  inferior  animal  ?  Why  are 
there  no  projections  of  new  and  advancing  structures  to  be 
kept  and  improved  on  ? 

The  theory,  however,  is  not  without  its  hopes.  It  cherishes 
bright  prospects.  A  prophetic  spirit  shapes  its  future.  If 
Natural  Selection  has  done  so  much  from  the  first  spore  of 
life,  what  may  it  not  accomplish  in  future  ages  with  such  a 
platform  as  the  highly-organised  beings  of  the  present  time  ? 
The  theory  necessitates  the  incoming  of  higher  structures 
than  man's,  Mr.  Darwin  admits  this,  and  forecasts  it  when 
he  says, — "  The  ultimate  result  will  be  that  each  creature 
will  tend  to  become  more  and  more  improved  in  relation  to 
its  conditions  of  life.  This  improvement  will,  I  think, 
inevitably  lead  to  the  gradual  advancement  of  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  greater  number  of  human  beings  throughout  the 
ivorld.  But  here  we  enter  on  a  very  intricate  subject ;  for 
naturalists  have  not  defined  to  each  others'  satisfaction  what 
is  meant  by  advance  in  organisation.     Among  the  vertebrae, 


112  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 

the  degree  of  intellect  and  an  approach  in  structure  to  man, 
clearly  come  into  play."^  Man  is,  as  yet,  the  most  advanced 
in  organisation ;  intellect  has  come  into  play,  but  nature  is 
not  exhausted.  Life  is  on  an  upward  path ;  and  if  this 
theory  be  true,  surely,  as  intellect  has  come  out  of  non- 
intd/cct,  or  a  physical  combination,  what  shall  be  the 
ultimate  product  of  intellect,  and  which  of  them  shall 
Natural  Selection  preserve  ?  Without  wasting  time  on  con- 
jecture, we  may  ask  whether  perfection  shall  be  reached  by 
a  mollusc  before  it  has  come  to  the  human  platform  ?  Is 
"  gradual  advancement "  to  carry  all  life-structures  onward 
to  the  organised  condition  which  man  has  reached,  and 
shall  distinctions  cease  ?  If  this  general  improvement  should 
ever  take  place,  when  every  creature  will  thus  be  advanced  to 
the  limits  of  perfectibility,  there  will  be  no  more  Natural 
Selection  ;  for  she  will  have  done  her  work,  and,  consequently, 
there  will  be  no  more  stntggles  for  life.  Creatures  will  not 
be  waging  battle  within  ba>^tle  ;  in  fact,  all  the  destroyers  will 
disappear,  and  they  will  be  transformed  into  some  superior 
position  "  by  an  advancement  of  the  brain  for  intellectual 
purposes ;  and  even  the  intestine  worm  will  perhaps  be  in  a 
fair  way  to  study  logic  and  propound  theories."  - 

The  theory  begins  in  mysterj',  and  ends  in  it.  It  dreams 
of  a  beginning  untold  ages  ago,  it  dreams  of  a  kind  of 
perfection  untold  ages  hence,  and  places  midway  a  beautiful 
exposition  of  many  facts  which  yet  leave  the  theory  proofless. 

But,  in  conclusion,  the  theorists  are  at  war  with  one 
another.  As  Ishmaelites,  their  hand  is  against  every  man. 
Each  is  a  law  in  theorising  to  himself  Their  contendings 
may  well  teach  us  caution.  Lamarck  set  those  right  who 
preceded  him.     The  author  of  T/u;  Vfsti^^cs  of  Creation  out- 

'  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  131. 

'  "Darwinian  Theory  Examined,"  p.  157. 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  113 


Stripped  Lamarck ;   and  Mr.  Danvin  sets  both  aside,  while 
he  in  turn  has  been  severely  censured  by  M.  Tremaux,  and 
has  all  his  reasoning  controverted  in  favour  of  the   new 
theory.     Lamarck  believed  in-  spontaneous  generation,  Dar- 
win does  not.     The  author  of  The  Vestiges  expounded  a  law 
of  development,  and  Mr.    Darwin  displaces  it  by  Natural 
Selection.    M.  Tremaux  has  repudiated  the  origin  which  Mr. 
Darwin  has  assumed,  and  insists  on  our  believing  that  not 
water,  but  the  soil,  is  the  origin  of  all  life,  and  therefore  of 
man.     With  him  there  is   no  progress;   all  creatures  ha^•e 
reached  their  resting-place.     But  man  rises  or  sinks  according 
to  the  more  recent  or  ancient  soil  he  dwells  on.     Professor 
Huxley  is  unwilling  to  abandon  his  idea  that  life  may  come 
from  dead  matter,  and  is  not  disposed   to  accept  of  Mr, 
Darwin's  explanation  of  the  origin  of  life  by  the  Creator 
having,  at  first,  breathed  it  into  one  or  more  forms.     "While 
accepting  Mr.  Darwin's  theory  of  a  common  descent  for 
man  with  all  other  creatures,  he  not  only  differs  from  him  as 
to  the  beginning,  but  he  admits  that  there  is  no  gradual 
transition  from  the  one  to  the  other.     He  acknowledges  that 
"  the  structural  differences  between  man  and  even  the  liighest 
apes,  are  great  and  significant;"  and  yet,  because  there  is 
no  sign  of  gradual  transition  "  between  the  gorilla  and  the 
orang,  or  ihe  orang  and  the  gibbon,"  he  infers  that  they  all 
had  a  common  origin ;  whereas,  the  more  natural  conclusion 
from  the  facts  would  be,  that  they  had  separate  beginnings. 

Mr.  Wallace,  whose  claims  are  admitted  to  be  equal  to 
those  of  Mr.  Darwin  as  the  propounder  of  the  theory  of  the 
origin  of  species  and  as  to  the  powers  expressed  by  Natural 
Selection,  has  firmly  asserted  .that,  vAl\\  all  its  resources, 
Natural  Selection  is  utterly  inadequate  to  account  for  the 
origin  and  structure  of  the  human  race.  "A  superior  in- 
telligence has  guided  that  development  in  a  definite  direction 


I 


114  BLEEDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VII. 

and  for  a  special  purpose."  It  is  interesting  to  observe  how 
completely  these  two  great  naturalists  difter  from  one 
another.  Mr.  Wallace  argues  against  Natural  Selection  as 
sufficient  to  e.xi)lain  the  greatness  of  man's  Ijrain  in  even  the 
lowest  savages,  who  have  little  more  use  for  it  than  the 
lower  animals  around  them,  whose  brain  is  greatly  inferior. 
These  savages,  in  having  a  brain  little  inferior  to  that  of  the 
highest  type  of  man,  possess  that  which  is  comparatively  of 
so  little  use  to  them,  that  it  could  not  have  been  obtained 
in  the  struggle  for  existence.  "  They  possess,"  he  says,  "  a 
mental  organ  beyond  their  needs.  Natural  Selection  could 
only  have  endowed  sa\age  man  with  a  brain  a  little  superior 
to  that  of  an  ape ;  whereas,  he  actually  possesses  one  very 
little  inferior  to  that  of  a  philosopher."  Mr.  Wallace  also 
specifics  other  facts  in  the  natural  history  of  man,  for  which 
Mr.  Darwin's  theory  utterly  fails  to  account.  In  the 
structure  of  the  hands  and  feet,  in  that  also  of  the  larynx, 
giving  the  power  of  speech  and  especially  of  musical 
sounds,  he  finds  evidence  of  the  inadequacy  of  Natural  Se- 
lection. His  references  to  the  human  body  are  so  pointed, 
that  their  effect  cannot  be  slighted  by  unprejudiced  in- 
quirers,— "The  soft,  naked,  sensitive  skin  of  man,  entirely 
free  from  the  hair)-  covering  which  is  so  uni\-ersal  among 
other  mammalia,  cannot  be  explained  on  the  theory  of 
Natural  Selection.  The  habits  of  savages  show  that  they 
feel  the  want  of  this  covering,  which  is  most  comi)letely 
absent  in  man  exactly  where  it  is  thickest  in  other  animals. 
We  have  no  reason  whatever  to  believe  that  it  would  have 
been  hurtful  or  even  useless  to  primitive  man  ;  and  under 
these  circumstances,  its  complete  abolition,  shown  by  its 
never  reverting  in  mixed  breeds,  is  a  demonstration  of  the 
agency  of  some  other  power  than  a  law  of  the  survival  of 
the    fittest    in    the   development    uf   man   from    the   lower 


CHAP.  VII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  IIS 


animals."^  Mr.  Wallace's  discussion  of  "The  Limits  of 
Natural  Selection,  as  Applied  to  Man,"  is  not  only  interest- 
ing, in  itself,  but  is  instructive,  as  showing  us  how  little  is 
gained  by  abandoning  the  simple  teaching  of  Scripture  for 
the  elaborate  and  conflicting  theories  of  our  ablest  and  most 
accomplished  naturalists. 

^  "The  Limits  of  Natural  Selection,  as  applied  to  Man,"  h)-  A.  R. 
Wallace,  pp.  355,  356. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Have  there  been  more  Origins  than  one  for  the  Human  Race? — 
The  Bible  Doctrine  in  relation  to  Recent  Theories. 

"As  we  go  westward,  we  observe  the  light  colour  predominate  over 
the  dark  ;  and  then  again,  when  we  conic  within  the  influence  of  damp 
from  the  sea  air,  we  see  the  shade  deepen  into  the  general  blackness  of 
the  coast  population." — Dr.  Livingstone. 

IT  is  more  than  two  liundred  years  ^  since  La  Peyr^re, 
basing  his  reasoning  on  the  Scriptures,  argued  in  favour 
of  a  plurality  of  origins  for  the  human  family.     Taking  the 
history  of  Cain  for  his  guide,-  he  maintained  that  there  was  a 
Non-Adamite  race,  the  ancestors  of  the  Gentiles ;  and  that 
the  Jews    alone,    of  whose   origin  and   history  the    Bible 
treats,  were  the  descendants  of  Adam.     La  Peyrcre  was  a 
theologian  who  vindicated  as  true  all  that  is  in  the  Bible  : 
•'  and  exhibited  in  his  work,'"  says  Quatrefages,  "  a  mixture 
of  complete  faith  and  free  criticism,'"  but  he  found,  in  that 
age,  no  listeners.     After  his  time  there  was  a  long  silence, 
though  possibly  much  diought,  on  the  subject,  until  Voltaire 
and  Rousseai,    seizing   La    Peyreic's    arguments,    wielded 
them  against  tie  ScrijJtures  with  the  commanding  brillian(  \ 
of  their  genius.    T'hb  contest  was  soon  Iraniifcrred  lo  tin. 
United  States  of  Anerica,  where  the  reasoning  of  the  French 
Encyclopedists  was  -eproduced   with   all  that  intensity  of 
feeling  and  that  \aviety  of  resource  which  the  interests  of  the 
Slavery  (luestion  created.    The  Christianity  and  scholarship 
of  America  gave  to  the  discission  a  magnitude  and  influence 

>  1655.        -Gi^e^is  iv.  16,  17. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  1 1? 


which  could  not  have  been  secured  for  it  by  the  infideUty 
of  France.  Theologians  became,  unintentionally,  earnest 
coadjutors  with  infidels  and  sceptics  in  the  effort  to 
establish  a  separate  origin  for  the  negro  race.  The  question 
has  of  late  lost  much  of  its  interest ;  because,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  gigantic  system  of  slavery  in  America  has  collapsed, 
and  because,  on  the  other,  the  most  commonly  accepted 
theories  as  to  development  and  evolution  include,  in  their 
basis,  unity  of  origin  or  race.  It  may  be  of  some  advantage, 
however,  to  review  briefly  the  present  aspects  of  the  question. 

I. — The  Bible  Doctrine. 

The  Bible  doctrine  is  distinctly  stated.  In  the  geologic 
fulness  of  time,  God  "  created  man,  male  and  female ; " 
"  Adam  called  his  wife's  name  Eve,  because  she  was  the 
mother  of  all  living."  In  the  New  Testament,  unity 
of  origin  is  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  himself.  He  reaffirms 
the  Old  Testament  doctrine.  Adam  had  said  of  Eve, 
"  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh :  she 
shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken  out  of 
Man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his 
mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife ;  and  they  shall  be 
one  flesh."  And  Jesus,  the  second  Adam,  asserting  the  same 
truth,  bound  the  Old  to  the  New  Testament,  when  he  said  — 
"  But  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation  God  made  them 
male  and  female.  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his 
father  and  mother,  and  cleave  to  his  wife."  ^  He  abolished 
distinctions  by  his  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  -  "  Wherefore,  as  by 
one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin ;  and 
so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned : "  ^ 
God   "  commandeth   all   men    every  where   to   repent."  •* 

1  Mark  .\.  6,  7.       -  Maik  .\vi.  15,       ^  Rom.  v,  12.      ''Actsxvii.  30. 


Ii8  [BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VIII. 

The  apostle  Paul,  in  the  centre  of  Athens,  in  the  midst  of 
matchless  monuments  of  human  skill,  and  confronting  the 
learning  and  the  pride  which  exalted  the  Athenian  above 
every  race  in  the  world,  boldly  proclaimed  to  them  the  dis- 
tasteful truth,  that  "  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations 
of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  ^ 

While  these  direct  statements  are  accepted  by  Agassiz, 
and  many  others  Avho  hold  fast  and  defend  the  Scriptures, 
they  regard  them  as  expressing  only  what  is  applicable 
to  the  Jewish  and  Caucasian  race  ;  and  they,  at  the  same 
time,  insist  that  God  created  other  races  in  separate 
zoological  provinces.  Strangely  enough,  while  they  advo- 
cate diversity  of  origin,  they  no  less  earnestly  advocate  unity 
of  species ;  and  thus  they  satisfy,  as  they  suppose,  the  de- 
claration of  the  apostle,  that  "  all  are  of  one  blood."  The 
facts  on  which  different  theories  have  been  framed  are  so 
numerous  and  so  varied,  that  they  would  require  the  fullest 
examination,  were  it  not  that  the  controversy  has  of  late 
changed  its  character.  The  past  has  its  series  of  testimonies 
in  the  skulls  of  long-buried  races,  and  the  present  makes 
its  evidence  commensurate  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
world. 

Omitting,  in  the  meantime,  the  first,  let  us  note  some  of 
the  facts  in  the  second  series.  The  world  is  its  basis ;  the 
human  race  is  the  subject.  There  is  not  a  Continent  which 
the  merchant  or  the  missionary  has  not  traversed ;  not  a  hill- 
tribe  has  been  left  unnoted,  nor  an  island  unexplored.  Vast 
groups  attract  attention ;  and  subordinate  varieties  intensify 
the  interest.  There  are  universally-accepted  race  distinc- 
tions,— as  in  the  Caucasian,  with  his  fair  skin,  dark  and 
curling  or  flowing  hair,  and  ample  brow ;  in  the  Mongolian. 

^  Acts  xvii.  26. 


CHAP.  vm.J  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  119 

^\'ith  his  receding  forehead,  obliquely -set  eyes,  projecting 
chin,  thin  long  black  hair,  and  sallow  skin  fitting  tightly  like 
parchment  to  the  cheek-bone ;  in  the  Ethiopian  or  Negro, 
with  dark  skin,  woolly  hair,  prominent  cheek-bones,  and  thick 
lips;  in  the  Malay,  with  his  reddish-brown  colour,  lank  black 
hair,  square  skull,  and  low  forehead ;  and  in  the  American, 
with  his  brown  complexion,  sunken  eye,  and  swollen  cheek- 
bone. Minuter  peculiarities  are  recognisable, — from  the 
Patagonian,  with  his  commanding  figure,  in  the  southern 
projection  of  one  Continent,  America,  to  the  Bosjesman,  with 
his  shrunken  and  shrivelled  frame,  in  the  southern  projection 
of  another  Continent,  Africa ;  from  the  diminutive  Esqui- 
maux, seated  in  his  ice-built  home, — his  crystal  palace,  with 
its  door  of  snow, — or  setting  out  in  eager  hunting  or  fishing 
enterprise  in  a  temperature  cold  enough  to  make  mercury 
freeze,  to  the  Indian  in  the  steaming  jungle  of  the  Caniatic, 
or  the  African  lounging  in  the  shade  of  rock  or  sallying 
forth  Avith  light  step  in  easy  enjoyment  of  an  atmosphere 
hot  enough  to  make  ether  boil.  We  see  man  subsisting  on 
every  form  of  food, — from  the  cooling  fruits  which  the  tropics 
provide  for  the  savage,  to  the  scant  shell-fish  of  southern 
and  the  coarse  oil  of  northern  tribes ;  and  we  see  every 
mode  of  life, — from  the  huntsman,  penetrating  the  forest  or 
scouring  the  plain,  to  the  artizan  in  civilised  communities, 
toiling  dust-covered,  and  scorched  with  furnace  heat  amid 
the  ceaseless  clank  of  machinery, — and  from  the  herdsman, 
contemplatively  following  his  flocks  or  watching  the  stars 
on  which  Chaldean  shepherds  loved  long  ago  to  gaze,  to  the 
philosopher,  apart  and  alone,  grappling  with  profoundest  pro- 
blems, or  the  scientific  student,  rejoicing  in  some  discovered 
application  which  may  benefit  thousands  of  his  fellow-men. 
These  are  but  glimpses  of  many  facts  which  every  one  ac- 
knowledges, and  the  question  to  be  determined  is,  Are  all 


BLENDING  LTCIITS.  [cHAP.  Vllf. 


these  compatible  with  descent  from  one  pair,  Adam  and  Eve ; 
or  must  we  infer  diversity  of  origin  in  zoological  centres  ? 

II. — The  Theory  of  Diversity  of  Origin. 

Sceptics  who  at  one  time  reasoned  in  favour  of  a  plurality 
of  origins  in  opposition  to  the  Bible,  have  abandoned 
their  theory,  and  adopted  as  its  substitute  development  or 
evolution  from  one  or  more  life-germs.  We  have  therefore 
to  do  only  with  those  who,  holding  the  Bible  in  common 
with  ourselves,  defend  di\ersity  of  origin,  or  a  belief  in 
several  centres  for  the  human  family. 

"  The  circumstance,"  says  Agassiz,  "  that  wherever  we 
find  a  human  race  naturally  circumscribed,  it  is  connected 
in  its  limitation  with  what  we  call,  in  natural  history,  a  zoolo- 
gical and  botanical  province, — that  is  to  say,  with  a  natural 
limitation  of  a  particular  association  of  animals  and  plants, 
— shows  most  unequivocally  the  intimate  relation  existing 
between  mankind  and  the  animal  kingdom,  in  their  adapta- 
tion to  the  physical  world.  The  Arctic  race  of  men,  co\ering 
the  treeless  region  near  the  arctics,  in  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America,  is  circumscribed  in  the  three  continents  within 
limits  very  similar  to  those  occupied  by  that  particular 
combination  of  animals  which  are  peculiar  to  the  same 
tracts  of  land  and  sea." 

"  The  region  inhabited  by  the  Mongolian  race  is  also  a 
zoological  province,  covered  by  a  combination  of  animals 
naturally  circumscribed  within  the  same  regions.  The  Malay 
race  covers  also  a  natural  zoological  province.  New  Holland 
again  constitutes  a  very  peculiar  zoological  province,  in  which 
we  have  another  particular  race  of  men.  And  it  is  further  re- 
markable in  this  connection,  that  the  plants  and  animals  now 
living  on  the  continent  of  Africa  south  of  the  Atlas,  wthin 
the  same  range  within  which  the  Negroes  are  naturally  cir- 
cumscribed, ha\e  a  character  differing  widely  from  that  of 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  I2t 

the  plants  and  animals  of  the  northern  shores  of  Africa  and 
the  valley  of  Egypt ;  while  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  within 
the  limits  inhabited  by  the  Hottentots,  is  characterised  by  a 
vegetation  and  a  fauna  equally  peculiar,  and  differing  in  its 
features  from  that  over  which  the  African  race  is  spread." 

For  these  reasons,  Agassiz  infers  "  that  men  were  primi- 
tively located  in  the  various  parts  which  they  inhabit,  and 
that  they  arose  every^vhere  in  those  harmonious  numeric 
proportions  with  other  living  beings,  which  would  at  once 
secure  their  preservation  and  contribute  to  their  welfare. 
To  suppose  that  all  men  originated  from  Adam  and  Eve, 
is  to  assume  that  the  order  of  creation  has  been  changed  in 
the  course  of  historical  times,  and  to  give  to  the  Mosaic 
record  a  meaning  that  it  was  never  intended  to  have.  On 
that  ground,  we  would  particularly  insist  upon  the  propriety 
of  considering  Genesis  as  chiefly  relating  to  the  history  of 
the  white  race,  with  special  reference  to  the  history  of  the 
Jews."  1 

Professor  Agassiz  takes  especial  pains,  at  the  same  time, 
to  make  it  clear  that  he  regards  all  the  different  races  not 
only  as  constituting  a  common  brotherhood,  but  as  morally 
responsible  and  equally  related  to  the  Divine  government ; 
yet  we  trust  that,  as  we  advance,  it  will  appear  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  facts  or  circumstances  to  which  he  refers  in- 
compatible with  the  diffusion  of  the  whole  family  of  man 
from  a  common  centre. 

Proof  of  Diversity  of  Origin  considered. — The  chief  reasons 
which  are  urged  by  Agassiz  and  others  against  acknowledging 
descent  from  Adam  and  Eve,  and  in  proof  of  more  origins 
than  one,  are  (i)  variety  of  colour,  and  (2)  variety  of  bodily 
conformation ;   and   the   question    is,    Are    these   varieties 


1  "Christian  Examiner,"  July,  1S50, 


122  BLEXDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VIII. 

compatible  with  the  common  interi:)retation  of  the  Scripture 
record  ? 

I.  The  differences  in  colour,  as  every  one  admits,  are  very 
remarkable ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  are 
forces  at  work  in  climate,  in  soil,  and  through  other  agencies, 
which  are,  as  yet,  mysterious  in  their  relation  to  human 
physiology.  The  results  are  \'isible,  but  the  processes  on 
which  they  depend  are  concealed  ;  and  these  results  show 
not  only  men,  but  some  of  the  lower  animals,  so  completely 
changing  their  colour,  as  to  remove  all  difficulty  regarding 
the  blackness  of  the  Negro  or  Ethiopic  race. 

Physiologists  hastily  assumed  that  in  the  negro  there  was 
a  singular  network  beneath  the  skin  which  was  the  source  of 
his  blackness,  and  they  made  this  their  warrant  for  separating 
him  specifically  from  the  white  race  ;  but  more  accurate 
microscopic  observation  has  proved  the  existence  in  all  men 
of  that  network, — in  the  white  in  the  temperate  zone,  as  well 
as  in  the  black  in  the  torrid.  It  is  in  man  everywhere,  and 
is  susceptible  of  those  subtle  influences  which  i)roduce 
different  degrees  of  colour.  It  contributes  to  man's  comfort, 
and  fits  him  for  all  climates. 

Those  Portuguese  who  have  been  long  settled  in  Africa 
and  the  East  Indies,  have  become  perfectly  black  in  colour : 
so,  also,  Greeks  and  Turks  are  changing  into  the  dusky  and 
sable. 

The  Jew,  whose  invariable  identity  is  everpvhere  con- 
spicuous, and  who  is  everywhere  testifying  to  the  truth  of 
Scripture,  as  an  inhabitant  of  all  lands  yet  with  a  resting- 
place  in  none,  represents  colour  in  all  its  degrees.  In  the 
plains  of  the  Ganges,  his  skin  is  jet  black  ;  in  Syria,  he  is  of 
a" dusky  hue  ;  in  Poland,  his  hair  is  light  and  his  comple.xion 
ruddy ;  on  the  Malabar  coast,  in  one  colony — the  older — he 
is  black,  in  the   other  colony — the   younger — he  is   com- 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  123 


paratively  fair.  "  For  1800  years,"  says  one  whose  authority 
none  will  dispute,  "  that  race  [the  Jews]  has  been  dispersed 
in  different  latitudes  and  climates,  and  they  have  preserved 
themselves  distinct  from  intermixture  with  other  races  of 
mankind.  There  are  some  Jews  still  lingering  in  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan,  who  have  been  oppressed  by  the  successive 
conquerors  of  Syria  for  ages, — a  low  race  of  people, — and 
described  by  trustworthy  travellers  as  being  black  as  any  of 
the  Ethiopic  races.  Others  of  the  Jewish  people,  partici- 
pating in  European  civilisation  and  dwelling  in  the  northern 
nations,  show  instances  of  the  light  complexion,  the  blue 
eyes  and  fair  hair  of  the  Scandinavian  families.  The  con- 
dition of  the  Hebrews  since  their  dispersion,  has  not  been 
such  as  to  admit  of  much  admixture  by  the  proselytism  of 
household  slaves.  We  are  thus  led  to  account  for  the  differ- 
ences in  colour  by  the  influence  of  climate,  mthout  having  to 
refer  them  to  original  or  specific  distinctions."  ^ 

Nor  are  changes  in  colour  limited  to  man.  Whatever 
may  be  the  process,  similar  results  appear  among  the  lower 
animals.  In  Guinea,  every  fowl  and  every  dog  become, 
like  the  people,  black.  In  America,  the  pale  horse  of  this 
country  becomes  commonly  a  chesnut  brown.  In  the 
Romagna  Campagna,  the  ox  is  grey ;  in  other  parts  of  Italy, 
red.  Sheep  in  Italy  are  chiefly  black  ;  in  England,  chiefly 
white.  Horses  in  Corsica  become  mottled,  and  the  well- 
known  carriage  dog  shows  also  a  peculiar  change. 

2.  ,  CJuingcs  in  physical  conformation  harmonise  with 
change  in  colour.  Mr.  Reade,  in  his  work,  "  Savage  Africa," 
when  writing  of  the  races  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  says  that 
the  red  races  change  to  black  when  they  descend  into  the 

1  Professor  Owen.  "Lecture  before  Cambridge  University,  1859," 
p.  96. 


i::4  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  viil. 

lowlands,  and  that,  while  some  years  ago  it  was  rare  to  see  a 
black  Fula  or  Puelh,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  see  any  other 
than  blacks  without  passing  far  into  the  interior.  Associated 
with  the  Mandingos,  they  are  driving  out  the  negroes,  and 
taking  their  [tlaces  on  the  river,  and  they  are  themselves  so 
visibly  changing  their  features  as  to  be  becoming  negroes. 
To  change  their  geographical  position,  is  to  change  their 
features.  The  red-skinned  inhabitants  of  the  mountain 
terraces  of  ^Vestem  Africa,  descending  into  the  malarious 
swamps,  have  lost  their  original  character,  and  have  become 
degraded  in  both  body  and  mind ;  but  these  negroes  are  by 
no  means  representati\e  of  the  true  African  races.  "  In 
Africa,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  there  are  three  grand  races, 
as  there  may  be  said  to  be  three  grand  geological  divisions. 

"The  Libyan  stock  inhabit  the  primitive  and  volcanic 
trails.  They  have  a  very  tawny  complexion,  Caucasian 
features,  and  long  black  hair. 

"  On  the  sandstones  will  be  found  an  intermediate  type. 
They  are  darker  than  their  parents ;  they  ha\-c  short  and 
very  curly  hair;  their  lips  are  thick,  and  their  nostrils  wide 
at  the  base. 

"And  finally,  in  the  alluvia,  one  will  find  the  negroes  with 
a  black  skin,  woolly  hair,  and  prognathous  development."  ^ 

That  soil,  climate,  and  the  supply  of  food  determine  in  a 
large  degree  the  jjhysical  conformation  of  different  races,  is 
an  almost  universally  accepted  truth.  Prichard,  Reade,  and 
Livingstone,  as  well  as  others,  bear  united  testimony  to  the 
deteriorating  effects,  physically  and  mentally,  of  mere  ex- 
ternal circumstances  alone.  Prichard  has  assured  us  that 
tliose  races  in  which  the  negro  character  appears  in  its  most 
exaggerated  form,  and  wliich  present  the  most  debased  and  the 

*  bee  "NVhat  ib  Truth?"  by  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  pp.  j97,  398. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  125 


Ugliest  blacks,  are  to  be  found,  in  most  instances,  inhabiting 
swampy  and  unhealthy  tracts  near  the  sea-coast,  where  they 
have  the  barest  means  of  subsistence.  They  are  not  only 
social  outcasts,  but  oppressed ;  yet,  whenever  their  social 
condition  and  external  surroundings  improve,  there  is  ob- 
viously a  corresponding  advance  in  their  features  and  their 
general  bearing.^  Reade  is  no  less  emphatic  in  contending 
that,  while  the  degradation  of  the  negro  is  altogether  indis- 
putable, it  is  only  degradation,  or  disease,  or  accident,  and 
nothing  more.  And  Livingstone,  in  some  of  his  more  recent 
letters,  has  proved  not  only  that  the  debasement  of  the  negro 
tribes  is  exceptional,  but  that,  when  free,  and  occupying  a 
fair  field,  they  present  some  of  the  nobler  aspects  of  the 
human  race.-  Testimony  has  been  borne  by  Humboldt  to 
the  effects  on  physical  conformation  which  the  elevated 
plateau  and  its  rarer  atmosphere  commonly  produced. 
The  respiratory  organs,  becoming  more  active,  demand 
more  scope,  and  the  result  has  been  that,  in  the  Andes, 
such  a  development  of  chest  is  common  as  to  be  almost 
a  deformity."  To  come  nearer  home,  we  ha\e,  in  the 
comparatively  recent  history  of  Ireland,  decided  evidence 
of  the  rapidity  with  which,  in  changed  circumstances, 
a  people  may  become  degenerated.  In  1641  and  1689, 
there  was  a  bitter  struggle  between  the  British  and  the 
rebels,  which  ended  in  the  native  Irish, — stalwart  men, — 
being  driven  from  the  counties  Down  and  Armagh  to  the 
bleak  districts  in  the  west,  and  in  less  than  two  centuries 
the  sad  effects  became  painfully  visible.     The  mouth,  the 


^  "Researches,"  vol.  II.,  p.  231. 

-  See  also  "Livingstone's  Researches  in  South  Africa, "ch.  xix. ;  and 
"  Man  and  his  Migrations,"  by  Latham. 
^  See  also  Darwin's  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  I.,  p.  119.   . 


126  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VIII. 

chin,  the  cheek-bones,  the  height,  the  general  appearance, 
betokened  a  sunken  condition  akin  to  barbarism. 

The  theory  of  Agassiz  is  untenable,  because  it  is  un- 
necessary for  the  explanation  of  changes  in  even  contiguous 
spheres  which  can  with  ease  be  traced  historically,  and 
because  it  fails,  also,  in  reference  to  the  lower  animals  in  his 
zoological  provinces,  inasmuch  as  they  adapt  themselves 
to  distant  provinces  and  flourish  in  them.  The  horses,  for 
exami)le,  let  loose  in  South  America,  have  not  only  not  de- 
teriorated by  their  transference  to  a  new  province,  but  have 
improved.  Their  glossy  hair  has  passed  into  a  shaggy  fur  ; 
and  all  their  colours,  white,  brown,  and  red,  have  disappeared 
in  the  one  prevailing  colour.  Tlie  swine  introduced  have 
similarly  changed.  The  hog  of  the  mountain  of  the  Paranos 
now  resembles  the  wild  boar  once  in  this  country  and 
France.  The  bristles  have  given  place  to  a  thick  fur,  often 
crisp ;  and,  whatever  their  first  colour,  they  are  uniformly 
black.  The  bodily  structure,  also,  has  altered  to  suit  their 
new  condition ;  the  snout  has  become  long,  the  forehead 
vaulted,  and  the  hind  legs  lengthened.  The  dog  never 
barks,  but  howls  like  the  wolf;  and  the  stnicture  of  the  head 
varies  from  tlic  breadth  of  tlie  mastiff  to  the  narrowness  of 
the  greyhound.  In  other  parts  of  the  world,  similar  modifi- 
cations take  place.  The  African  sheep  becomes  goat-like, 
and  assumes  hair  for  wool ;  and  the  Wallachian  sheep 
gradually  presents  perpendicular  spiral  horns. 

Facts'  Crowd  on  us ;  they  would  fill  volumes.  Animals 
in  our  ovvn  land  constitute  of  themselves  .suflicient  proof 
The  horse  varies  from  the  gigantic  dray-horse  of  our  streets 
to  the  small  Shetland  pony,  scrambling  with  amazing 
agility  over  highland  crags ;  the  dog,  from  the  St.  Bernard 
searching  for  some  frozen  traveller,  to  the  lap-dog  nestling 
in  the  warmth  of  thi.'  drawinLr-rooin  :    mikI  caltli',  from   the 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  127 


small  highland  steer  to  the  huge  prize  oxen  of  our  shows. 
Unless  Britain  itself  can  be  divided  into  zoological  provinces, 
the  proofs  which  have  been  stated  show  so  fully  the  adap- 
tiveness  of  different  animals,  and  the  changes  in  colour 
and  conformation  to  which  it  leads,  that  we  are  fully 
warranted  in  rejecting  the  theory  of  diversity  of  origin  in 
distinct  zoological  centres. 

It  remains  for  us  to  gwt  here  an  outline  of  the  extensive 
evidence  which  has  been  adduced  in  support  of  the  Bible 
doctrine,  as  held  by  the  opponents  of  Agassiz. 

3.  Proofs  in  support  of  Unity  of  Origin. 

The  direct  proofs  in  support  of  unity  of  origin  are,  (i) 
Bodily  Structure,  (2)  Language,  (3)  Tradition,  and  (4)  Mental 
Endowment. 

I.  Bodily  Structure.— h\\^\o\\\\%\.?,  and  physiologists  of  the 
highest  standing  assign  to  man's  bodily  structure  a  place 
distinct  from  that  of  all  other  animals.  The  following 
conclusions  have  been  established,  whatever  may  be  the 
variety  of  the  race  : — 

I.  All  have  the  same  number  of  teeth,  and  of  addi- 
tional bones  in  their  body. 

^  2.    They  all  shed  their  teeth  in  the  same  way,  which  also 
differ  from  others  in  that  they  are  of  etjual  length. 

3.  They  all  have  the  same  upright  posture,— they  walk 
and  look  upwards. 

4.  The  head  is  set  in  every  variety  in  the  same  way. 

5.  They  possess  two  hands. 

6.  They  possess  smooth  bodies,  and  heads  co\ered  with 
hair. 

7.  Every  muscle  and  every  nerve  in  e\-ery  \ariety  are  the 
same. 

8.  They  all  speak  and  lau'gh. 

9.  They  eat  different  kinds  of  food,  and  li\-c  in  all  climates. 


T28  BLEEDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VIII. 

10.  They  are  more  helpless,  and  grow  more  slowly  than 
other  animals. 

Professor  Owen  has  very  distinctly  given  his  decision 
on  this  question  in  the  following  terms: — "With  regard 
to  the  value  to  be  assigned  to  the  distinctions  of  race, 
in  consequence  of  not  any  of  those  differences  being  equi- 
valent to  those  characteristics  of  the  skeleton  or  other  parts 
of  the  frame  upon  which  specific  differences  are  founded  by 
naturalists  in  reference  to  the  rest  of  animal  creation,  I  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  man  forms  one  species,  and  that 
diffenuces  arc  but  indicative  of  varieties."  *'  The  unity  of  the 
human  species  is  demonstrated  by  the  constancy  of  those 
osteological  and  dental  characters  to  which  the  attention  is 
more  particularly  directed  in  the  investigation  of  the  corres- 
ponding characters  in  the  higher  quadrumana."  ^ 

11.  There  is  perhaps  no  argument  in  favour  of  the  Bible 
doctrine  of  unity  of  race  more  direct  than  that  which  has 
been  founded  on  the  physiological  barrier  to  descent  from 
mixing  distinct  species.  When  crossed,  they  produce 
hybrids  which  are  either  barren,  or  degenerate  so  speedily 
that  they  die  out.  Varied  experiments  ha\e  fully  proved 
the  infertility  of  hybrids.  The  law  which  controls 
different  species  also  checks  their  descent ;  the  mule, 
for  example,  closes  the  history  of  descent  from  the  horse 
and  the  ass,  and  similar  results  are  always  educed  from 
similar  experin-kents.  Hybridity,  in  the  crossing  of  the  horse 
and  the  ass,  reaches  its  end  in  a  single  generation,  and  is 
thus  a  strong  protest  against  a  theory  which  is  at  present 
supported  by  influential  advocacy.  The  plausible  combina- 
tions of  suitable  facts,  which  the  intermixture  of  varieties  has 
supplied,  do  not,  in  the  remotest  degree,  show  the  possibility 

'  Lecture  before  Cambridge  University,  p.  103. 


CHAP,  viir.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  I29 


of  descent  from  clearly  distinct  species.  While  we  have 
before  us  barriers  which  Nature  does  not  oveqxass,  among 
both  living  plants  and  animals,  we  can  do  nothing  else  than 
reject  suppositions  as  to  all  barriers  having  been,  by  some 
means,  overcome  in  bygone  ages.  Purity  of  species  has 
been  preserved  mth  obvious  care.  "  It  strikes  us  naturally 
with  wonder,"  says  Professor  Dana^  "  that  even  in  senseless 
plants,  without  the  emotional  repugnance  of  instinct,  and 
with  reproductive  organs  that  are  all  outside,  the  free  winds 
being  often  the  means  of  transmission,  there  should  be  rigid 
law  sustained  against  intermixture.  The  supposed  cases  of 
perpetuated  fertile  hybridity  are  so  exceedingly  few,  as  almost 
to  condemn  themselves  as  no  true  examples  of  an  abnor- 
mity so  abhorrent  to  the  system.  They  violate  a  principle 
so  essential  to  the  integrity  of  the  plant-kingdom,  and  so 
opposed  to  Nature's  whole  plan,  that  we  rightly  demand 
long  and  careful  study  before  admitting  the  exceptions."  ^ 

A  careful  review  of  this  section  of  evidence  will  satisfy 
you  that  organic  species  preserve  permanent  distinctions, 
and  that  all  the  varieties  of  the  human  race  constitute  only 
one  species,  which  has  descended  from  a  single  pair. 

2.  Language. — Language  has  unexpectedly  become  a 
witness  to  the  unity  of  the  race.  A  new  course  of  investigation 
has  been  commenced,  and  has  created  surpassing  interest. 
The  discovery,  less  than  a  century  ago,  of  the  Sanskrit  liter- 
ature, has  revolutionised  long-accepted  opinions  as  to  the 
Hebrew  language,  and  is  gradually  removing  confusion.  It 
has  become  the  connecting  link  between  widely-separated 
dialects,  and  has  established  a  new  classification.  The 
Asiatic  Society,  founded  in  Calcutta  in  1784,  and  rendered 
illustrious  by  the  exertions  of  Sir  William  Jones,  Carey  the 


'  Quoted  in  "  \N'hat  is  truth?"  by  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  A.M.,  p.  189. 

K 


130  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VIII. 


missionary,  and  others,  gave  impulses  to  investigation  which 
are  still  sustained  ;  and  a  history  in  philology  of  unequalled 
brilliancy  has  run  on  for  half  a  century.  A  new  science, 
that  of  Language,  classed  by  Max  Miiller  among  the 
Physical  Sciences,  has  been  created ;  and  the  longer  it  is 
prosecuted  and  the  more  exactly  its  results  are  systematised, 
the  more  thoroughly  is  Scripture  confirmed.  Language  is  a 
mysterious  characteristic  of  man,  and  forms  an  impassable 
barrier  between  him  and  the  lower  animals.  No  theories  of 
evolution  or  development  can  displace  the  marvcllousness 
of  human  speech.  Though  much  in  the  realm  of  language 
has  perished  ;  though  whole  periods  in  its  history  have 
irrecoverably  gone;  yet  the  mass  that  remains,  both  in 
dead  and  in  living  languages,  is  sufficient  to  tax,  for 
generations,  the  scholarship  of  Europe  and  the  East.  It  is 
yet  impossible  to  fix  exactly  the  number  of  known  languages. 
Adelung  announced  3064  distinct  languages ;  Balbi  800 
languages  and  5000  dialects;  and  Max  Miiller  has  calculated 
that  there  are  900  known  languages.  Their  number  and 
their  jirominence  may  well  excite  our  sympathy  with  Max 
Miiller,  when,  in  surprise  at  their  long  neglect,  he  says  : — 
"  NLan  had  studied  every  part  of  nature, — the  mineral 
treasures  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  the  flowers  of  each 
season,  the  animals  of  every  continent,  the  laws  of  storms, 
and  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies ;  he  had 
analysed  every  substance,  dissected  every  organism ;  he 
knew  every  bone  and  muscle,  every  nerve  and  fibre  of  his 
own  bod}',  to  the  ultimate  elements  which  compose  his  flesh 
and  blood  ;  he  had  meditated  on  the  nature  of  his  soul,  on 
the  laws  of  his  mind,  and  tried  to  penetrate  into  the  last 
causes  of  all  being, — and  yet,  language,  without  the  aid  of 
which  not  even  the  first  step  in  this  glorious  career  could 
have  been   made,  remained  unnoticed.      Like  a  veil  that 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  I3I 


hung  too  close  over  the  eye  of  the  human  mind,  it  was  hardly 
perceived.     In  an  age  when  the  study  of  antiquity  attracted 
the  most  energetic  minds,  when  the  ashes  of  Pompeii  were 
sifted  for  the  playthings  of  Roman  hfe ;  when  parchments  were 
made  to  disclose,  by  chemical  means,  the  erased  thoughts  of 
Grecian  thinkers  ;  when  the  tombs  of  Egypt  were  ransacked 
for  their  sacred  contents,  and  the  palaces  of  Babylon  and 
Nineveh   were    forced    to    surrender   the    clay   diaries    of 
Nebuchadnezzar ;  when  everything,  in  fact,  that  seemed  to 
contain  a  vestige  of  the  early  life   of  man  was   anxiously 
searched  for,  and  carefully  preserved  in  our  Libraries  and 
Museums,  —  language,  which  in  itself  carries  us  back  far 
beyond  the  cuneiform  literature  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia, 
and  the  hieroglyphic  documents  of  Egypt ;  which  connects 
ourselves,  through  an  unbroken  chain  of  speech,  with  the  very 
ancestors  of  oUr  race,  and  still  draws  its  life  from  the  first 
utterances  of  the   human  mind, — language,  the  living  and 
speaking  witness    of  the   whole   history  of  our  race,  was 
never  cross-examined  by  the  student  of  history,  was  never 
made  to  disclose  its  secrets,  until  questioned,  and,  so  to  say, 
brought  back  to  itself,  within  the  last  fifty   years,  by   the 
genius  of  a  Humboldt,  Bopp,  Grimm,  Bunsen,  and  others."^ 
This  long  neglect  is  strange ;  it  is  an  irremediable  loss. 
Be  it  so ;  we  are  now  reaping  the  fruits  of  fresh  enthusiasm 
and  scholarship.      The  science  of  Language  is  not  only 
achieving   with  dead  dialects  what  Geology   is   tracing   in 
fossils,  but  it  is  also  doing  with  living  languages  what  Natural 
History  is  accomplishing  among  the  existent  fauna  of  the 
globe.     Like  Geology  and  Astronomy,  it  has  had  among  its 
earliest  efforts  to  correct  its  own  mistakes,  when,  like  them, 
it  had  spoken  too  hastily  against  the  Bible. 

'  "  .Science  of  Language,"  p.  26. 


132  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  VIII. 

There  are  certain  recei\'ed  conclusions  which  are  confirm- 
atory of  the  Bible  as  to  one  language  being  the  foundation  of 
all  others,  until  broken  up  in  confusion  at  the  Tower  of  Babel. 
The  greatest  philologists  are  agreed  regarding  the  classifica- 
tion which  reduces  all  languages  to  three  families, — the  Ar}'an, 
the  Semitic,  and  the  Turanian.  Under  these  are  grouped 
the  chief  dialects  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe ;  and  although 
the  arrangement  is  confessedly  imperfect,  it  is  astonishing  to 
find,  amid  many  conflicting  surface  appearances,  so  much  at 
bottom  that  is  really  harmonious. 

Another  classification,  which  has  been  based  on  their  roots, 
and  has  reference  to  their  internal  structure,  does  not 
militate  against,  but  rather  strengthens,  this  conclusion.^ 
In  an  instructive  article  on  the  Confusion  of  Tongues,  in 
Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  there  are  specified  four 
instances  in  which  proofs  of  unity  of  language  may  be  found ; 
and  the  \\Titer  adds, — "  Such  a  result,  though  it  does  not 
prove  the  unity  of  language  in  respect  to  its  radical 
elements,  nevertheless  tends  to  establish  the  a  priori  proba- 
bility of  this  unity ;  for  if  all  connected  with  the  forms  of 
language  may  be  referred  to  certain  general  laws, — if  nothing 
in  that  department  owes  its  origin  to  chance  or  arbitrary  ap- 
pointment,— it  surely  proves  the  presumption  that  the  same 
principle  would  extend  to  the  fomiation  of  the  roots  which 
are  the  very  core  and  kernel  of  language.  Here,  too,  we 
might  expect  to  find  the  operation  of  fixed  laws  of  some  kind 
or  other  producing  results  of  a  uniform  character ;  here,  too, 
actual  variety  may  not  be  inconsistent  with  original  unity."  -' 

The  inference  is  fully  warranted  by  what  has  been  ascer- 
tained, that  nothing  valuable  has  been  added  to  the  substance 

'  "Science  of  Language,"  First  Series,  pp.  254-279. 

^  Smith's  "Bible  Dictionary  "—Art,,  Confusion  of  Tongues. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  133 

of  languages,  that  its  changes  have  been  those  of  form  only, 
and  that  no  new  root  or  radical  has  been  invented  by  later 
generations.  The  Teutonic  languages  of  Europe,  of  which 
our  vernacular  Scotch  is  part,  are  illustrated  by  the  language 
of  Persia ;  the  Latin  of  Italy  connects  itself  with  Russian 
idioms  ;  and  Greek  with  the  Sanskrit  of  India.  From 
Ceylon,  with  its  fragrant  breezes,  to  Iceland,  with  its  A\intr}' 
storms,  there  is,  irres^Dective  of  form,  of  colour,  of  social 
life,  and  religious  institutions,  but  one  belt  of  language. 
The  American  tribes  in  the  far  West,  Humboldt  has  assured 
us,  are  indissolubly  united  to  the  inhabitants  of  Asia ;  the  lan- 
guages of  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhet  have  a  common  affinity  : 
hills,  plains,  climates  change,  but  language  in  its  substantial 
elements  is  really  more  enduring  than  the  pyramids  of  Egypt, 
the  ruins  of  Palmyra,  or  the  statues  of  Greece. 

Klaproth,  who  has  little  reverence  for  the  Bible,  says, 
*'A11  languages  in  the  world  are  connected  with  one  origin  : 
a  universal  affinity  is  completely  demonstrated;"  and  Herder, 
though  doubting  the  inspiration  of  Moses,  is  yet  decided  in 
his  belief  that  the  human  race  and  human  language  go 
back  to  one  source.  "All  dialects,"  says  the  Petersburg 
Academy,  "are  to  be  considered  as  dialects  of  one  now 
lost." 

Max  Miiller,  who  has  traced  an  intimate  connection 
between  Finnish  through  the  remote  north  of  Europe  and 
Tamil  in  Southern  India,  has  submitted  the  following  con- 
clusion,— "  Nothing  necessitates  the  admission  of  different 
independent  beginnings  for  the  material  elements  of  the 
Turanian,  Semitic,  and  Aryan  branches  of  speech ;  nay,  it  is 
possible,  even  now,  to  point  out  radicals,  which,  under  various 
changes  and  disguises,  have  been  current  in  these  branches 
ever  since  their  first  separation."  Again,  "  if  inductive 
reasoning  is  worth  anything,  we  are  justified  in  believing  that 


134  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  Vlll. 

what  has  been  proved  to  be  true  on  so  large  a  scale,  and  in 
cases  where  it  was  least  expected,  is  true  in  regard  to  lan- 
guage in  general  .  .  .  We  can  understand  not  only  the 
origin  of  language,  but  likewise  the  necessary  breaking-up  of 
one  language  into  many ;  and  we  perceive  that  no  amount 
of  variety  in  the  material  or  the  formal  elements  of  speech  is 
incompatible  ^vith  the  admission  of  one  common  source." 
Inquiry  has  not  exhausted  anomalies  ;  difficulties  remain ; 
the  Chinese  language  has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  adjusted 
in  the  range  of  classification,  nor  have  the  rapidly-varying 
dialects  of  some  outlying  tribes  been  definitely  assigned  their 
place  in  the  chain  of  connections ;  but  these  do  not  affect 
the  general  conclusion  to  which  philological  investigation 
has  guided  scholars.  The  science  has  led  us  to  that  highest 
and  earliest  resting-place  "  whence  we  can  see  into  the 
very  dawn  of  man's  life  on  earth,  and  where  the  words  with 
which  from  childhood  we  have  been  familiar,  '  And  the 
whole  earth  was  of  one  language,  and  one  speech,'  assume 
a  meaning  more  natural  and  more  impressive  than  they  ever 
had  before."  ^ 

3.  Tradition. — The  traditions  which  prevail  in  all  lands, 
connect  together  distant  and  dissimilar  races. 

Omitting  those  that  are  less  significant  or  less  wide- 
spread, though  full  of  interest  notwithstanding,  let  us  refer 
to  some  of  those  which  have  been  most  distinctly  recognised 
in  different  parts  of  the  world.  Outlying  and  comparatively 
isolated  tribes  may  be  found,  without  traditions  of  any  kind  ; 
but  these  do  not  affect  the  argument  as  drawn  from  those 

1  For  a  general  view  of  the  whole  subject,  and  for  details,  also,  we 
must  refer  to  the  "  Science  of  Language,"  by  Max  Mviller,  First  and 
.Second  Series;  to  Bopp's  "Comparative  Grammar  of  the  Sanskrit, 
Zend,  Greek,  Latin,  Lithuanian,  and  other  Langu.iges ; "  and  to 
"  Language,  and  tlie  Study  of  Language,"  by  Professor  W,  D.  Whitney. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  135 


traditions  which,  in  different  forms,  are  common  to  all  the 
leading  communities  in  the  world. 

(i).  The  creation  of  man  has  its  place  in  the  legends  of 
Greece,  in  the  beliefs  of  India,  in  the  cosmogony  of  Peru, 
and  in  the  traditions  of  the  tribes  of  North  America,  of  the 
South  Sea  Islanders,  and  of  the  Dyaks  of  Borneo. 

(2).  The  Garden  of  Eden  has  its  counterpart  in  the  City 
of  Brahma,  as  described  by  the  Vishnu  Purana ;  it  has  its 
representation  also  in  the  Grecian  fable  regarding  the  Garden 
of  the  Hesperides,  with  which  every  well-taught  school-boy 
is  familiar;  and  the  encircling  of  the  garden  by  high 
mountains,  the  golden  apples,  the  mysterious  tree,  the  watchful 
serpent,  the  destruction  of  the  serpent  by  Hercules,  and  the 
relation  of  Hercules  to  Jupiter,  are  obviously  suggestive  of 
the  Scripture  narrative. 

(3).  The  Temptation  and  the  Fall  have  their  record  in 
the  Greek  legend  regarding  the  lovely  Pandora,  who  was 
sent  by  Jupiter  to  punish  the  human  race.  Yielding  to  her 
fatal  curiosity,  she  opened  the  closed  box  which  Prometheus 
had  given  to  her,  and  diseases  and  wars  sped  forth. 

(4).  Traditions  as  to  man's  innocence,  happiness,  and 
freedom  from  disease,  as  to  his  having  yielded  to  flattery  in 
an  evil  hour,  or  to  the  temptation  of  a  woman,  and  as  to  his 
having  lost  therefore  his  early  intellectual  and  moral  pre- 
eminence, prevailed  in  China,  Thibet,  Persia,  Ceylon,  and 
India. 

(5).  The  division  of  Time  into  weeks  has  been  almost 
universal,  and  the  prevalence  of  serpent  worship  has  been 
such  as  to  be  of  itself  a  strong  argument  for  the  unity  of  the 
race.  In  Mr.  Fergusson's  most  remarkable  work  on  "  Tree 
and  Serpent  Worship,"  we  have  practices  described  which 
unite  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  In  Madagascar,  the 
Friendly  Islands,   and  in  various  parts   of  America,   the 


136  BLLXJj/XG   LiLi/rS.  [chap.  VIII. 

serpent  has  been  either  held  in  the  greatest  reverence  or 
worshipped. 

(6).  There  existed  traditions  of  the  Deluge  in  China,  India, 
Persia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  the  Roman  Empire;  in  the 
scattered  islands  of  the  Pacific ;  in  America — North  and 
South ;  amid  the  Indian  tribes  in  sunny  prairies,  and  the 
Cree  Indians  moving  amid  the  enduring  snows  of  the  north. 

(7).  Sacrifices  were  offered  in  the  different  parts  of  the 
earth,  and  among  all  peoples.  Religious  rites,  sacrificial  or 
expiatory,  prevailed  from  Athens  to  Upsal,  from  Egypt  to 
China,  from  one  section  of  America  to  another. 

These  traditions,  of  which  we  have  given  only  a  very 
general  outline,  constitute  a  cumulative  argument  in  favour 
of  oue  race,  which  cannot  be  ignored  or  set  aside.  Their 
prevalence  is  utterly  inexplicable,  except  through  the  Bible 
narrative.  On  its  basis  alone  can  we  so  adjust  the  facts  of 
science,  and  the  common  traditions  of  dissimilar  races,  as  to 
realise  perfectly  harmonious  results. 

4.  Mental  and  Moral  Endowmetits. 

Even  those  who  accept  the  Darwinian  theory  in  whole  or 
in  part,  admit  that  the  intellectual  and  moral  superiority  of 
man  is  such  as  to  Separate  him  from  all  other  creatures. 
Whatever  differences  of  opinion  may  exist  regarding  man's 
physical  relations  to  the  lower  animals,  there  is  none  in  re- 
ference to  his  intellectual  and  moral  superiority. 

In  the  language  of  Scripture,  man  is  made  "  in  the  image  of 
God."  The  description  is  singular,  to  define  a  singular  result. 
Man's  standard  is  not  of  earth,  his  asjjirations  are  upward ; 
he  has  elements  in  his  spiritual  nature  which  sejiarate  him 
from  the  world  he  dw^^lls  in.  The  Bible  makes  no  limitation, 
and  draws  no  distinction.  As  we  have  already  explained, 
God  made  man  capable  of  knowing,  reasoning,  and  lonng. 
While  the  body  demands  food,  the  mind  seeks  truth.     It 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  137 

thirsts  for  knowledge  ;  hence,  it  is  said  of  man,  by  the  Great 
Teacher,  that,  in  the  highest  sense,  he  "shall  not  live  by 
bread  alone,  but  by  ever}'  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God."  ^  There  is,  further,  a  consciousness  of 
right  and  wTong.  He  has  a  discriminating  and  distinguish- 
ing power.  Perverted  in  its  uses  it  may  be,  but  still  it  works. 
There  is  also  a  moral  foculty.  Conscience  may  slumber  or 
be  inactive,  but  the  power  is  tliere  to  be  acted  on.  In  his 
most  sunken  state,  he  has  a  capacity  for  religion.  He  can 
be  taught  to  look  to  Gk)d,  and  to  a  home  in  the  Unseen. 
On  these  plain  truths  we  need  not  dwell ;  the  question 
which  connects  itself  with  them  is,  admitting  these  fiicts, 
are  they  so  present  in  all  races  as  to  prove  them  one  in 
origin? 

American  controversialists,  compelled  by  anatomy  and 
physiolog)'  to  give  up  the  idea  of  diflerence  of  origin  as 
dependent  on  man's  physical  structure,  spent  their  energies 
in  the  attempt  to  prove  that  the  negro  race  was  not  only 
intellectually  inferior,  but  morally  unimprovable.  They  de- 
nounced him  as  devoid  of  feeling,  weak  in  intellect,  and 
defective  in  moral  principle  ;  but  their  proof  has  completely 
failed.  Tried  by  tests  common  among  ourselves,  tlie  negro 
disproves  their  assertions. 

Negroes  have  sho\ni  all  tlie  qualities  of  our  emotional 
nature.  Unexpected  circumstances  produce  surprise  or  as- 
tonishment, and  unexplained  events,  wonder ;  the  beautiful 
evokes  admiration,  and  the  subUnie,  awe;  kindness  lights  the 
eye  with  gratitude,  and  the  amusing  creates  laughter;  sorrow 
bedews  the  cheek  with  tears,  and  bitter  remorse  follows  the 
memory  of  a  crime  or  a  wrong.  These  emotions  and  these 
moral  iiitluences  bind  us  all  together.     "Indeed,"  says  an  ac- 

^  Matthew  iv.  4. 


138  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

curate  observer,  "the  feelings  of  the  negro  are  extremely  acute. 
According  to  tlie  way  in  which  they  are  treated,  they  are 
gay  or  melancholy,  laborious  or  slothful,  enemies  or  friends. 
The  throb  of  manly  affection,  and  the  tear  of  brotherly 
sympathy, — a  glittering  gem  on  a  swarthy  cheek, — are  of 
themselves  touches  of  nature  making  us  all  one." 

Their  intellectuality,  also,  has  been  denied.  Ignorance 
and  degradation  are  the  facts  adduced  in  proof;  but  history 
vindicates  their  title  to  great  mental  resources.  Has  not 
the  Ethiopic  race  left  traces  of  its  prowess  not  only  in  Africa, 
but  in  Central  Asia.?  Debased  and  sunken  tribes  in 
swampy  regions,  it  is  true,  fringe  the  Atlantic  coast ;  but 
they  are  exceptional.  Inland,  the  tribes  are  intelligent  and 
powerful;^  Try  even  the  lowest  of  the  negro  tribes,  and 
what  will  they  not  accomplish ;  give  them  scope,  and  they 
will  show  the  ordinary  results  of  civilisation.  Dr.  Hamilton 
of  Mobile,  whose  opportunities  of  observation  were  very 
extensive,  has  said,  "  That  there  is,  in  comparison  with  the 
white,  any  essential  inferiority  of  intellect  native  to  the  negro, 
the  observation  and  experience  of  nearly  thirty  years  of 
familiar  intercourse  with  whites  and  with  blacks,  as  a  minister 
of  religion,  would  never  lead  him  to  believe.  A  difference 
there  certainly  is  in  the  intellectual  character,  as  well  as  in 
the  physical  organisations  of  the  two  races  ;  but  a  decided 
and  essential  inferiority  of  the  one  to  the  other,  in  point  of 
intellect,  he  cannot  discern."  - 

Of  their  skill  as  carpenters  and  watchmakers,  of  their 
taste  in  drawing,  of  their  musical  talents,  of  their  capacity 
in  physical  and  mathematical  science,  many  proofs  might  be 
given  from  the  writings  of  those  who  have  had  opportunities 

^  The  late  despatches  of  Dr.  Livingstone  have  proved  beyond  question 
what  was  before  in  part  maintained. 

s  "The  Pentateuch  and  its  Assailants,"  p.  319. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  139 


of  personal  observation.  Blumenbacli  has  declared  that 
entire  provinces  of  Europe  might  be  named  in  which  it 
would  be  most  difficult  to  find  in  correspondents  of  the 
French  Academy  such  good  writers,  poets,  and  philosophers, 
as  some  of  them. 

(i).  All  men  have  a  higher  power  than  intellect,— they  have 
conscience.  While  Intellect  and  Will,  separating  man  from 
all  beneath,  make  him  a  person.  Conscience  makes  him 
moral  and  responsible ;  it  gives  the  idea  of  right  and  wrong, 
and  is  the  basis  of  natural  law.  It  does  not  affect  the 
argument  to  say  that  a  common  standard  in  different  tribes 
and  nations  has  not  been  found,  and  that  moral  judgments 
therefore  difter.  It  is  enough  that  there  is  any  standard. 
The  most  debased  criminals  in  our  land,  who  have  set  law 
at  defiance,  calculate  on  trial  and  justice.  The  most  sunken 
races  have  their  rude  way  of  settling  disputes.  "The 
principles  on  which  men  reason  in  morals,"  says  Hume, 
"  are  the  same,  though  their  conclusions  be  different." 

(2).  All  races  have  capacity  for  the  higher  exercises  of 
religion.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  the  dispute  as  to 
some  tribes  being  destitute  or  not  of  every  idea  of  even  a 
remotely  religious  kindj  the  question  is.  Have  they  capacity 
for  religious  teaching  and  a  religious  life  ?  No  one  who  has 
denied  this  has  given  proof  of  his  assertion.  Experience 
alone  can  substantiate  such  opinions.  Christian  missionaries 
have  never  yet  told  us  of  an  irreclaimable  and  unimprovable 
tribe.  That  differences  exist  in  aptitude  of  intellectual  and 
moral  culture,  every  one  admits.  They  are  common  in  all 
ci\'ilised  nations,  as  well  as  among  savage  tribes ;  but  races 
the  most  sunken  and  debased  have  been  uplifted  and  refined. 
Culture  cannot,  and  does  not,  impart  a  single  intellectual 
and  moral  force  not  originally  existent  in  man,  but  it  evolves 
forces,  however  long-neglected  and  dormant ;  and  their  ap- 


140  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

pearance  constitutes  a  new  testimony  to  the  unity  of  our 
race.  To  these,  and  similar  results,  we  shall  more  fully 
advert  when  we  have  to  consider  the  bearing  of  the  Gospel 
message  on  the  human  race. 

(3).  Another  peculiarity,  common  to  all  races,  meets  us  in 
the  fact  that  there  is  naturally  no  love  of  the  Creator  by  the 
Creature,  nor  gratitude  by  the  constantly  upheld  to  the 
Upholder.  Is  it  not  strange  that  man  should  ever}^vhere 
fear,  and  not  love,  God?  Is  it  not  unnatural  that,  while 
thankful  to  his  fellow-creature  for  kindness,  man  should  be 
unthankful  to  his  God,  and  unmindful  of  Him,  except  when 
compelled  by  uneasiness  of  conscience  to  honour  Him  by  a 
routine  of  external  observances  ?  There  is  only  one  explan- 
ation, and  that  is,  a  universal  opposition  to  the  holiness  of  a 
loving  and  merciful  Father.  There  is  a  sense  of  depravity, 
there  is  a  feeling  of  wrongness,  and  there  is,  consequently, 
the  gloom  of  fear  where  there  should  be  the  glow  and  the 
confidence  of  love.  Powerful  as  is  this  darkening  influence, 
Natural  Science  cannot  discover  nor  deal  with  it.  "  It  lies 
where  the  tests  of  chemistry  cannot  detect,  nor  the  knife  of 
the  anatomist  reach  it,  nor  the  eye  of  the  physiognomist  dis- 
cern, nor  the  instriunent  of  the  phrenologist  measure  it.  It 
lies  in  the  depth  of  the  soul,  and  comes  out  in  the  remark- 
able fact  that,  while  all  the  hues  of  the  skin  differ,  and  the 
fomis  of  the  skull  and  the  features  of  the  face  are  cast  in  dif- 
ferent moulds,  the  features,  character,  and  colour  of  the  heart 
are  the  same  in  all.  Be  he  pale-faced  or  red,  tawny  or 
black,  Jew,  Greek,  Scythian,  bond  or  free,  whether  he  be  the 
civilised  inhabitant  of  Europe  or  roam  a  painted  savage  in 
American  woods,  pant  beneath  the  burning  sun,  or,  wrapt 
in  furs,  shiver  amid  the  Arctic  shores  (as  in  all  classes  of 
society,  so  in  all  races  of  men),  "  the  heart  is  deceitful  above 
all  things,  and  desperately  wicked;"  "the  carnal  mind  is 


CHAP,  vol]  blending  LIGHTS.  14I 

enmity  against  God."  The  pendulum  vibrates  slower  at  the 
equator  than  the  pole ;  the  farther  north  we  push  our  way 
over  thick-ribbed  ice,  the  faster  goes  the  clock ;  but  parallels 
of  latitude  have  no  modifying  influences  on  the  motions  of 
the  heart.  It  beats  the  same  in  all  men,  nor  till  repaired  by 
grace  does  it  in  any  way  beat  true  to  God."  ^ 

In  bodily  structure,  in  language,  in  tradition,  and  in  in- 
tellectual, moral,  and  religious  character,  we  find  abundant 
evidence  to  prove  unity  of  race ;  and  there  is  the  amplest 
confirmation  of  it  in  the  character  and  extent  of  the  Gospel 
or  Christian  scheme.  It  assumes  unity,  and  it  comes  with 
a  free,  full,  universal  message.  The  Great  Teacher  and 
Redeemer  drew  no  distinction, — "Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  ALL  nations,  baptising  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you."  '-'  The  message  is  for  all ;  it  is  everywhere  needed ; 
teaching  is  to  be  the  process,  and  all  are  assumed  to  be 
capable  of  instruction  and  obedience.  The  doctrine  of 
diversity  of  origin,  and  of  distinct  and  lower  races,  is  incon- 
sistent, not  only  with  the  facts  and  principles  of  different 
sciences,  but  with  the  direct  teachings  of  Christianity. 

^  Dr.  Guthrie.    "The  Gospel  in  Ezekicl,"  pp.  40,  41 ;  abridged.    1863, 
"  Matthew  xxviii.  19,  20. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IVffr  our  First  Parents  Savages  ? — Recent  Theories  as  to  the 
Origin  of  Civilisation  considered  in  Relation  to  Scrip- 
ture and  History. 

*'  Even  if  we  had  not  Revelation  to  guide  us,  it  would  be  most 
unphilosophical  to  attempt  to  trace  back  the  history  of  man,  without 
taking  into  account  the  most  remarkable  facts  of  his  nature, — the  facts  of 
civilisation,  arts,  government,  speech,  his  traditions,  his  internal  wants, 
his  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  constitution.  If  we  will  attempt 
such  a  retrospect,  we  must  look  at  all  these  things  as  evidence  of  the 
origin  and  end  of  man's  being ;  and  when  we  do  thus  comprehend  in 
one  view  the  whole  of  the  argument,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  arrive  at 
an  origin  homogeneous  with  the  present  order  of  things." — Professor 
Wheuiell. 

WHAT  was  man's  primeval  condition?  Were  our  first 
parents  savages  ?  Are  we  descended  from  "  some 
creature  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man"?  Is  civilisation 
the  commencement  of  human  historj^,  or  its  close?  Is  it  a 
natural  evolution  of  savage  life,  or  is  it  dependent  for  its 
origin  and  growth  on  influences  external  to  man  ?  Is  it  ever 
flowing  and  ebbing  within  definite  and  ascertainable  limits  ? 
Does  it  reach  a  maximum  only  again  to  sink,  or  is  it  carrying 
with  every  apparently  fitful  advance  the  elements  of  expan- 
sion and  of  ultimate  stability  ?  These  are  questions  which 
the  eager  thinking  of  tlie  age  is  forcing  upon  us,  and  com- 
pelling us  to  answer.  Repeated  discussions  in  meetings  of 
the  British  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Science  ;  elabor- 
ate works,  such  as  those  by  Darwin,  Spencer,  AN'allace,  Sir 
John  Lubbock,  and  Tylor ;  and  powerful  articles  in  our  serial 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  I43 


literature ;  show  the  importance  that  is  attached  to  this  sub- 
ject, and  represent  facts  and  inferences  which,  be  our  belief 
what  it  may,  ought  not  to  be  summarily  rejected.  They 
claim  a  sifting,  yet  candid,  examination ;  and  we  should  be 
able,  on  the  basis  of  science  and  history,  as  well  as  on  that 
of  Scripture,  to  found  reliable  conclusions  regarding  the  origin 
and  progress  of  civilisation. 

The  discussion  has  not  been  satisfactorily  prosecuted, 
because  of  the  want  of  agreement  as  to  the  constituent 
elements  of  barbarism  and  civilisation.  Wherein  lies  the 
difference  ? — What  line  separates  the  two  ? — How  low  must 
a  man  sink  to  become  a  savage  ? — How  high  must  he  rise 
to  be  ranked  among  the  civilised  ? — What  kind  and  what 
amount  of  knowledge  may  be  held  sufficient  to  separate  the 
civilised  from  the  savage  ? — Of  what  mechanical  appliances 
must  he  be  capable,  what  intellectual  resources  must  he 
command,  and  what  moral  and  religious  sentiments  must 
influence  or  control  his  life  ? — are  questions  which  have  not 
yet  been  definitely  answered.  No  attempt  has  been  made 
to  give  a  scientific  definition  of  either  barbarism  or  civilisa- 
tion, and  the  consequence  is  a  prevailing  haziness  in  all  the 
reasoning  which  we  have  been  constrained  to  follow.  Sir 
John  Lubbock  has  not  made  the  attempt ;  nor  did  Arch- 
bishop Whately ;  nor  has  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  although  in  his 
"  Primeval  Man  "  he  has  specified  this  very  defect.  In  his 
late  work,  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  distinctly  refused  to  give 
any  definition.  "  In  truth,"  he  says,  "  it  would  be  impossible 
in  a  few  words  to  define  the  complex  organisation  which  we 
call  civilisation,  or  to  state  in  a  few  words  how  a  civilised 
difters  from  a  barbarous  people.  Indeed,  to  define  civilisa- 
tion as  it  should  be,  is  surely -as  yet  impossible,  since  we  are 
far  indeed  from  having  solved  the  problem  how  we  may 
best  avail   ourselves   of  our  opportunities,  and   enjoy  the 


144  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IX, 


beautiful  world  in  which  we  live."  ^  We  are  disappointed 
by  this  excuse.  In  a  discussion  of  this  kind,  involving  so 
much  that  is  of  vital  interest,  it  is  impossible  to  proceed  in 
safety  ^vithout  some  first  principles  as  our  guide,  and  some 
end  or  object  as  our  goal.  Without  these,  we  grope  through 
mists,  and  are  distracted  by  different  standards.  M.  Guizot, 
in  his  well-knowTi  "  History  of  Civilisation  in  Europe,"  has 
recognised  the  importance  of  distinct  ideas  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  term,  and  has  elaborately  stated  what  are  those  con- 
ditions of  society  which,  in  his  view,  represent  ci\ilisation. 
Although  he  does  not  give  a  scientifix;  definition,  he  states 
wth  such  clearness,  descriptively  and  hypothetically,  what 
individual,  social,  and  political  interests  are  embraced  by  it, 
that  we  can  read  Avith  ease  and  comfort  his  truly  philo- 
sophic discussion  ;  and  e\en  when  we  do  not  accept  his 
conclusions,  we  are  prepared  to  admit  how  harmoniously 
they  fit  into  the  descriptive  h}qDothesis  which  he  gave  at  the 
commencement.  A\niile  his  work  has  a  different  basis  from 
that  of  Sir  John  Lubbock,  and  a  less  comprehensive  aim,  it 
illustrates  the  close  philosophic  treatment  which  the  subject 
must  yet  receive  in  the  new  relations  in  which  it  has  of  late 
been  discussed. 

The  refusal  of  Sir  John  Lubbock  to  state  what,  even  in 
a  general  or  comprehensive  sense,  are  the  distinguishing 
features  of  the  civilisation  regarding  which  he  A\Tites  with  such 
fulness,  is  unsatisfactor>'.  It  leaves  everj'thing  in  confusion. 
Let  it  be  understood  that  it  is  not  a  logical  definition  of 
civilisation  as  it  should  be,  nor  any  explanation  of  its 
material  cftccts  as  they  now  appear,  which  we  desiderate, 
but  unambiguous  references  to  such  principles  in  mental 
and  moral   life  as  should   control  material  results  without 

'  '*  On  the  Origin  of  Civilisation  anil  the  Primitive  Condition  of  Man," 
P-  339- 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  145 

being  absolutel}'  dependent  on  them.  It  does  not  avail  to 
say  that  it  is  "  impossible,"  because  we  have  not  ''  solved 
the  problem  how  we  may  best  avail  ourselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunities and  enjoy  the  beautiful  world  we  live  in."  On  what 
does  this  enjoyment  depend  ?  On  material  acts,  A\ith  the 
luxuries  they  bring? — or  on  mental  and  moral  resources 
Avithout  them  ? — or  on  both  ?  It  is  surely  not  too  much  to 
expect  from  one  who  undertakes  to  explain  to  us  "the  origin 
of  civilisation,"  that  he  state  in  what  sense  he  uses  this  term, 
and  how  much  it  implies  in  relation  at  least  to  those  facts 
which  he  describes.  There  are  surely  some  first  principles 
which,  operating  in  society,  create  civilisation  ;  or  there  are 
at  least  some  facts  which,  when  they  do  appear,  determine 
its  necessary  conditions. 

As  the  opinions  which  have  of  late  been  thus  influentially 
promulgated,  would,  if  correct,  not  only  render  the  Bible  un- 
worthy of  acceptance,  even  as  a  historical  document,  but  dis- 
place the  whole  Christian  system  as  a  Force  elevating  and 
refining  the  human  race,  it  is  incumbent  on  all  to  examine, 
with  the  greatest  care,  the  reasoning  by  which  their  conclu- 
sions are  supported.  We  therefore  propose  to  examine  the 
subject, — First,  generally,  in  its  relation  to  the  Bible  and  to 
History ;  and  Second,  more  minutely,  in  its  relation  to  the 
Mental  Faculties,  the  Moral  Sense  or  Conscience,  and 
Religion. 

I. — Recent  Theories  in  Relation  to  the  Bible. 

Although  we  do  not  meet  in  the  Bible  with  the  term 
"  civilisation,"  nor  Avith  any  formal  delineation  of  that  com- 
plex social  organisation  which  the  word  now  implies,  we 
have  the  principles  clearly  defined  and  the  duties  firmly 
enforced  on  which  its  origin,  growth,  and  stability  depend. 
They  are  moral  rather  than  intellectual,  and  spiritual  rather 
than  material. 

L 


146  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  IX. 

Apart  altogether  from  the  question  of  inspiration,  and 
assuming  the  Scriptural  record  to  be  not  less  worthy  of  ac- 
ceptance as  a  mere  history,  or  as  suggesting  a  theory,  than 
are  those  statements  in  books  of  travel  which  have  been  so 
lavishly  used,  we  may  fairly  enough  refer  to  the  view  which 
it  gives  of  the  origin  of  civilisation,  and  claim  for  it  respectfiil 
consideration.  It  expressly  states  that  "  man  was  created 
in  the  image  of  God," — that  is,  that  he  was  not  only  intellec- 
tually but  morally  great ; — that  he  acted  from  holy  motives ; 
— that,  in  his  highest  and  most  ennobling  vocation, — in  fellow- 
ship or  communion  with  the  Being  whose  spiritual  image  he 
bore, — he  had  an  exhaustless  source  of  true  happiness.  By 
the  spirit,  human  character  is  to  be  determined,  and  not  by 
the  industrial  or  the  fine  arts,  nor  by  any  external  details 
whatever ;  these  may  shed  light  on  the  general  attainments 
of  a  community  in  certain  directions,  but  there  may  be  a 
large  amount  of  civilisation  without  as  well  as  with  them. 
This  depends  on  the  possession  of  certain  distinct  ideas 
of  man's  relations  to  God  and  to  his  fello\\Tnen.  Let  him 
but  know  that  "  God  is,  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder  of 
them  that  diligently  seek  him,"  and  the  external  circum- 
stances will  gradually  adjust  themselves  to  expanding 
secular  knowledge  in  both  its  principles  and  their  applica- 
tions. The  civilisation  of  our  first  parents,  in  its  relation  to 
this  knowledge,  was  very  high  ;  but  in  its  relation  to  me- 
chanical art  it  was  at  the  outset  necessarily  very  low, — as 
low,  probably,  as  can  be  conceived.  It  is  not  required  for 
our  argument  to  infer,  with  Archbishop  ^^^lately,  that  God 
taught  them  any  mechanical  arts.  He  gave  them  quick  per- 
ceptions, ready  and  accurate  reasoning  power,  and  conse- 
quently facility  of  application,  according  to  the  exigencies  of 
their  life.  And  this  is  all  that  was  necessary,  in  our  subse- 
quently changed  condition,  for  tlic  origin  of  those  complicated 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  1 47 

arrangements  which  are  summarised  by  the  term  civiUsation. 
In  clearly  defined  ideas  of  the  being  and  character  of  the 
Deity,  in  a  sense  of  dependence  on  God,  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  needed  forgiveness  and  acceptance,  and  in  the 
recognition  of  the  claims  upon  us  of  our  brother  man,  we 
have  the  basis  of  a  permanent  civilisation.  Nations  that 
have  risen  to  greatness,  and  been  deemed  civilised,  reached 
their  commanding  height  only  through  the  measure  of  truth 
which  they  held  even  in  partially  distorted  forms;  but 
empires  perished  when  at  last  the  truth  was  wholly  lost. 

False  religions  can  live  only  by  the  truth  which  vitalises 
them,  and  national  histories  are  continued  only  on  the  same 
conditions.  The  splendour  of  Egypt,  Chaldaea,  Persia, 
Greece,  Rome,  evanished  in  gloom  only  when  almost  every 
moral  principle  had  been  buried  in  corruption ;  and  national 
resuscitation  became  possible  only  through  a  restoration 
from  without  of  vitalising  and  controlling  truths. 

All  this  is  assumed  in  the  Bible.  It  does  not  formally 
expound  the  conditions  of  civilisation.  Its  descriptions  and 
its  precepts  take  for  granted  this  recognition  of  moral  prin- 
ciples by  both  individuals  and  nations.  Men  may  read  the 
Bible  and  miss  this  somewhat  subtle  pervading  force,  or  they 
may  detect  and  feel  it  from  the  outset.  A  thoughtful 
American  writer  has  thus  referred  to  this  difference  : — "  The 
tJiiiigs  in  which  an  elevated  social  economy  reveals  itself 
to  political  wisdom,  are  not  at  all  obtrusive  upon  the 
foreground  of  Scriptural  thought.  Wealth,  art,  litera- 
ture, science,  urbanity  of  manners,  domestic  comfort, 
institutions  of  charity,  free  governments, — these  are  not 
the  salient  themes  here,  either  of  argiunent  or  of  promise. 
A  reformer  might  study  pages,  of  this  volume,  covering 
a  thousand  years  of  history,  and  not  discover  that  in- 
spired minds  ever  thought  of  any  such  sort  of  thing ;  yet  a 


148  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IX. 

wise  man,  instructed  in  God's  wisdom,  may  traverse  the 
same  ground,  and  so  discern  the  gravitating  of  principles 
towards  social  results  as  almost  to  imagine  that  inspired 
minds  thought  of  nothing  else."  ^ 

Eastern  nations  retaining  some  such  truths  as  we  have 
referred  to,  represent,  in  varied  forms,  a  civilisation  different 
from  that  of  Western  nations.  Of  them  all  it  may  be  said 
that  they  are  fixed  ;  their  modes  of  thought,  their  manners, 
their  arts,  their  superstitions,  are  cast  in  unvarying  moulds, 
which  must  be  broken  to  give  the  freedom  which  brightens 
the  West ;  and  the  Bible,  with  its  varied  truth  and  impelling 
force,  is  the  one  power,  we  believe,  which  is  destined  to  do 
it.  What  it  is  doing  in  Western  nations,  it  \\ill  do  for 
Eastern.  When  it  is  studied,  and  is  accepted  as  a  regulating 
book,  it  will  speedily  accomplish  what  neither  commerce  and 
peaceful  intercourse,  nor  the  turmoil  of  war,  can  ever  achieve. 
The  truth  shall  make  these  nations  free  in  spirit  and  free  in 
the  introduction  and  enjoyment  of  the  useful  and  ornamental 
arts.  The  Bible  alone  is  the  fontal  civilising  force  in  the 
world,  and  is  gradually  changing  the  historical  character  of 
our  race. 

The  chief  defect  in  the  expositions  of  recent  theorists  is 
their  omission  to  record  the  influences  of  Bible  truth,  and 
those  revolutions  in  feeling,  thought,  and  outward  life  which 
Christianity  has  so  strikingly  accomplished.  As  historical 
elements,  these  are  incomparably  more  worthy  of  acknow- 
ledgment tlian  many  of  the  traditions  and  customs  which 
they  delineate  mth  such  earnest  diligence  and  care.  And 
not  until  all  the  more  prominent  intellectual  and  moral 
results  which  Christianity  is  evolving  are  taken  into  account, 

'  Lecture  by  Rev.  Austin  Phclp,  D.D.  Boston  Lectures.  "  Chris- 
tianity and  Scepticism,"  p.  38.      1871. 


CHAP,  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  149 

as  well  as  the  peculiar  phenomena  of  barbarism,  can  we 
have  an  approach  to  such  a  philosophic  discussion  of  the 
whole  subject  as  its  vital  importance  demands. 

This,  so  far,  is  mere  assertion,  but  so  also  is  the  statement 
on  the  other  side,  that  we  are  descended  from  some  creature 
not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man,  and  that  the  whole  complex 
system  of  modern  civilisation  has  been  slowly  evolved  from 
some  creature  without  a  single  idea  in  its  head.  It  is  asser- 
tion against  assertion  we  admit,  with  this  important  difference, 
however,  that  we  include  in  our  system  the  facts  of  Christi- 
anity as  processes  in  history.  But  let  the  opposite  views  be 
as  fully  stated  as  possible  in  support  of 

II. — The  Recent  Theories  in  Relation  to  History. 

Sunken  as  are  the  Fuegians  and  Bosjesmen,  they  are  not 
low  enough  for  our  supposed  origin.  The  ordinary  term 
savage  does  not  carry  us  far  enough  back  in  history,  nor  far 
enough  down  in  the  scale  of  being,  for  that  dishonouring 
origin  which  has  been  assigned  to  us.  Whether  that  creature 
not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man  was  below  or  above  the  ape 
and  the  gorilla,  does  not  clearly  appear.  Our  parentage  is 
uncertain.  The  beings  with  which  or  with  whom  our  race 
began,  are  represented  as  but  one  remove  from  irrational 
animals.  Man's  instincts,  intelligence,  reason,  habits,  are  so 
near  those  of  the  lower  animals,  that  it  is  difficult  to  separate 
them ;  and  from  such  a  beginning,  they  tell  us,  have  arisen 
the  intellect,  the  reason,  the  science,  the  arts,  and  the 
prospects  of  this  nineteenth  century. 

The  various  stages  in  the  long  process  have  been  artificially 
marked.  The  prehistoric  ages  have  been  divided  into 
indefinite  periods,  dependent  for  their  distinction  on  the 
chief  materials  used  in  war,  or 'for  agricultural  and  domestic 
purposes.  These  periods,  representing  advancing  stages  in 
civilisation,  are,  according  to  Sir  John  Lubbock,  (i),  the 


ISO  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IX. 

PalceoUthk — that  is,  the  old-stone  period,  when  men  used 
and  could  use  only  rough  stones ;  (2),  the  Neolithic^  or  new- 
stone  period,  when  men  had  taste  and  skill  enough  to  polish 
their  stone  implements  and  make  flint-headed  weapons ; 
(3),  the  Bronze  period,  when  annour  and  cutting  instruments 
of  every  sort  were  made  of  bronze;  and  (4),  the  Iron  period, 
when  the  instnunents  and  implements  of  former  ages  have 
given  place  generally  to  those  of  iron,  and  represent  chiefly 
the  civilisation  of  the  century  in  which  we  live. 

We  do  not  object  to  this  division, — it  has  a  certain  degree 
of  historical  appositeness, — but  we  deny  that  there  is  evi- 
dence adequate  to  prove  that  man  has  gradually  passed 
through  them  all  upward  to  the  highest  pinnacles  of  the 
present  age.     But  let  us  follow  the  theory. 

The  process  of  growth  or  expansion  has  been  variously 
described,  but  by  none  with  greater  succinctness  and  felicity 
than  by  the  late  Archbishop  Whately.  Although  holding  an 
opposite  conclusion,  he  does  full  justice  to  the  reasoning  of 
his  opponents  : — 

"  It  was  long  commonly  taken  for  granted,  not  onl)-  l)\ 
writers  among  the  ancient  heathens,  but  by  modem  authors, 
that  the  savage  state  was  the  original  one,  and  that  mankind, 
or  some  portion  of  mankind,  gradually  raised  themselves 
from  it  by  the  unaided  exercise  of  their  own  faculties.  ,  .  . 
You  mayliear  plausible  descriptions  given  of  a  supposed 
race  of  savages  subsisting  on  wild  fruits,  herbs,  and  roots, 
and  on  the  precarious  supplies  of  hunting  and  fishing ;  and 
then,  of  the  supposed  process  by  which  they  emerged  from 
this  state,  and  gradually  invented  the  various  arts  of  life,  till 
they  became  a  decidedly  civilised  people.  One  man,  it  has 
been  supposed,  wishing  to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  roam- 
ing through  the  woods  in  search  of  wild  plants  and  roots, 
would  bethink  himself  of  collecting  the  seeds  of  these,  and 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLE ADDING  LIGHTS.  '      151 

cultivating  them  in  a  plot  of  ground  cleared  and  broken  up 
for  the  purpose.  And  finding  that  he  could  thus  raise  more 
than  enough  for  himself,  he  might  agree  with  some  of  his 
neighbours  to  exchange  a  part  of  his  produce  for  some  of  the 
game  or  fish  taken  by  them.  Another  man,  again,  it  has 
been  supposed,  would  contrive  to  save  himself  the  labour  and 
uncertainty  of  hunting,  by  catching  some  kind  of  wild  animals 
alive  and  keeping  them  in  an  enclosure  to  breed,  that  he 
might  have  a  supply  always  at  hand.  And,  again,  others,  it 
is  supposed,  might  devote  themselves  to  the  occupation  of 
dressing  skins  for  clothing,  or  of  building  huts  or  canoes,  or 
of  making  bows  and  arrows,  or  various  kinds  of  tools,  each 
exchanging  his  productions  ^vith  his  neighbours  for  food. 
And  each,  by  devoting  his  attention  to  some  one  kind  of 
manufacture,  would  acquire  increased  skill  in  that,  and  would 
strike  out  new  inventions. 

"■  And  then,  these  supposed  savages  having  in  this  way 
become  divided  into  husbandmen,  shepherds,  and  artizans 
of  several  kinds,  would  begin  to  enjoy  the  various  advantages 
of  division  of  labour,  and  would  advance  step  by  step  in  all 
the  arts  of  civilised  life."  ^ 

This  statement,  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  gradual 
division  of  labour,  may  be  accepted  as  probably  correct ; 
but  the  question  at  issue  is  not,  whence  the  savage  ?  that 
has  been  already  discussed  by  us,  but,  supposing  the  savage 
existent,  whence  these  processes  ? — from  natural  impulses  or 
intuitions,  or  from  external  teachings  by  a  higher  tribe? 
"  They  cannot  be  originated  by  savages,"  says  the  one  party. 
"  They  can  be  originated  by  no  other,"  say  their  opponents. 

"  Such  descriptions  as  the  above,"  says  Whately,  "  of 
what   is   supposed   has   actually  taken   place,   or  of  what 

1  "Exeter  Hall  Lectures," pp.  9-1 1.     1854,1855,    James  Nisbet  &Co, 


152  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IX. 

possibly  might  take  place,  are  likely  to  appear  plausible; 
but,  on  close  examination,  their  suppositions  are  found  to  be 
completely  at  variance  ^v'ith  history,  and  inconsistent  with 
the  character  of  real  savages.  Such  a  process  of  invention 
and  improvement  as  that  just  described,  is  what  we  may 
safely  say  never  did  and  never  can  possibly  take  place  in 
any  tribe  of  savages  left  wholly  to  themselves." 

Without  committing  ourselves  to  the  strong  affirmation 
that  such  a  "  process  never  can  possibly  take  place,"  it  is 
enough  to  inquire  whether  any  such  process  has  ever  been 
known  to  have  taken  place  among  "  savages  left  wholly 
to  themselves."  In  that  "  left  wholly  to  themselves,"  lies 
the  essential  difference  between  the  tAvo  systems  or  theories 
of  civilisation. 

Sir  John  Lubbock  and  the  ethnologists  whom  he  repre- 
sents, have  set  themselves  to  prove  the  opposite  of  Whately's 
conclusion,  and  both  their  scholarship  and  character  entitle 
their  opinions  to  the  best  consideration  of  every  student. 

Leaving  out  of  view,  in  the  meantime,  the  teachings  of 
Scripture,  let  us  test  their  theory  on  its  own  merits,  and 
endeavour  to  judge  of  it  on  the  basis  of  histor}^  and  science, 
as  we  should  do  in  the  case  of  any  theory  not  running 
counter  to  any  cherished  belief  or  tradition. 

Two  questions,  at  this  stage,  suggest  themselves ; — first, 
Is  the  test  or  standard  adopted  sufficient  to  determine  tlie 
difference  bet>veen  barbarism  and  civilisation? — and,  second, 
Suppose  the  standard  accepted,  do  the  facts  of  history 
establish  their  theory  ? 

The  standard  is  unsuitable.  Fundamentally,  the  theory 
is  erroneous,  for  the  following  among  other  reasons  : — 

I,  It  is  defective,  in  making  the  industrial  and  me- 
chanical arts  alone  the  standard  by  which  to  test  degrees 
of  civilisation.      It  is  difficult,  we  admit,  to  fiiid  a  common 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  1 53 

test ;  but  the  one  adopted,  though  in  many  respects  good, 
is  so  inadequate  in  important  particulars,  that  it  cannot 
warrant  comprehensive  conckisions.  The  theory  fails  to 
recognise  personal  culture  apart  from  its  mere  material  ex- 
pression, and  therein  lies  a  fatal  weakness;  for  high  culture 
and  many  of  the  aspirations  and  sympathies  of  comparatively 
refined  life,  may  subsist  amid  the  very  rudest  industrial  arts. 
Measured  by  the  marvellous  attainments  of  this  Iron-period 
of  ours,  the  ages  of  Homer  and  Herodotus  would  be  gloomily 
barbarous.  Had  their  writings  been  lost ;  had  the  "  Iliad  " 
of  the  one  and  the  history  of  the  other — productions  to 
which  our  best  British  scholars  and  statesmen  have  given 
so  much  of  their  leisure  and  cultivated  thought — never  been 
heard  of;  and  had  only  the  rude  remains  of  these  early 
times  come  to  us  in  some  loose  fragments ;  we  should  have 
been  resting  in  utterly  erroneous  conclusions  regarding  both 
the  period  and  the  people. 

"No  proof,  if  proof  there  be,  that  primeval  man  was 
ignorant  of  the  industrial  arts,  can  afford  the  smallest 
presumption  that  he  was  also  ignorant  of  duty,  or  ignorant 
of  God.  This  is  a  fundamental  objection  to  the  whole  scope 
of  Sir  John  Lubbock's  argument.  It  interposes  an  impass- 
able gulf  between  his  premises  and  his  conclusion."  ^  This 
objection  Sir  J.  Lubbock  has  attempted  to  obviate,  but  with- 
out success.  While  we  can  acknowledge  gradual  advance 
from  lower  to  higher  degrees  of  skill  in  mechanical  arts, 
without  admitting  that  any  one  stage  of  art  necessarily 
represents  finer  feelings,  nobler  thoughts,  and  a  more 
generous  or  holier  life  than  the  other,  he  and  others  are 
so  restricted  by  a  narrow  theory,  that  they  cannot  include 
all  the  facts  of  intellectual  and  moral  life. 

1  "Man,  Primeval,"  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  p,  132. 


154  B LEADING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  ix. 

The  ancient  Germans,  Gauls,  and  Britons,  as  described 
by  Caesar  and  Tacitus,  were  savages ;  yet  they  "cultivated 
their  land,  kept  oittle,  employed  horses  in  their  wars,  and 
made  use  of  metals  for  their  weapons  and  instnunents." 
They  had  some  of  the  commonest  evidences  of  civilisation, 
and  we  are  not  in  circumstances  to  estimate  fairly  their 
personal  culture,  but  we  may  infer  that  it  was  even  higher 
than  these  evidences  indicate. 

If  we  make  industrial  arts  alone  the  test  of  civilisation  in 
Scotland  and  England,  we  should  arrive  at  most  erroneous 
conclusions  regarding  even  comparatively  recent  times.  And 
were  we,  indeed,  at  this  moment,  to  estimate  the  character 
of  the  people  in  some  districts  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland 
by  their  dwellings,  their  agriculture,  and  their  simple  habits, 
we  should  completely  misunderstand  and  \\Tong  them.  We 
should  possibly  represent  as  ignorant  and  barbarous,  numbers 
of  the  most  intelligent  of  our  countrymen,  and,  viewed  in 
the  light  of  morality  and  religion,  the  most  civilised  of  the 
British  Empire,  because  their  dwellings  are  the  abodes  of 
truth,  and  honour,  and  piety.  Though  their  hamlets  or 
clachans  may  be  little  better  than  a  series  of  architectural 
hovels,  the  inmates  are  notv\-ithstanding  brave,  courteous, 
and  refined  ;  they  need  not  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare  or 
the  epics  of  Milton  to  give  them  their  share  of  the  common 
splendours  of  their  country  ;  for  while  they  may  have  these, 
tliey  have,  besides,  that  higher  lustre  which  is  invariably 
diffused  by  the  Psalms  of  David ;  the  blending  poetry, 
prophecy,  and  theology  of  Isaiah ;  the  narratives  of  the 
Evangelists ;  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Great  Teacher  who 
spake  truth  as  never  man  spake  it. 

2.  The  theory  is  defective  also  in  not  making  sufficient 
allowance  for  the  co-existence  of  barbarism  and  civilisation 
at  the  same  period  in  different  parts  of  the  world.     Facts 


CHAP.  TX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  1 55 

gathered  in  a  single  narrow  district,  or  in  contiguous 
territories,  have  been  made  the  basis  of  plausible  inference 
and  the  source  of  elaborate  proof,  when  the  facts  of  distant 
territories  and  corresponding  periods  would  have  shown 
other  processes  and  another  result.  When  Csesar,  for 
example,  was  carrying  his  triumphs  onward  to  Britain, 
through  the  comparatively  rude  dwellings  of  Gaul,  splendid 
palaces  glittered  in  Eastern  Empires ;  and  long  before  his 
time,  when  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Persia  were  powerful  in  their 
military  equipment  and  refined  in  their  Art,  savage  tribes 
hovered  on  their  verge,  or  wandered  in  distant  regions. 

While  we  find  in  the  history  of  the  world,  contemporane- 
ously, in  different  kingdoms,  the  art  evidences  of  barbarism 
and  civilisation,  we  have  them  no  less  distinctly  co-existent 
in  the  same  district  or  kingdom.  They  are  not  connected  as 
growth,  part  with  part.  Vases,  cylinders,  and  engraved  signets 
have  been  discovered,  mingling  with  knives  of  flint  or  chert, 
stone  hatchets,  hammers,  nails,  and  adzes.  In  Mexico  and 
other  parts  of  America,  the  facts  of  a  high  civilisation  ante- 
date those  of  ignorance  and  degradation.  Periods  so  com- 
mingle facts  which  should  on  this  theory  lie  ages  apart,  that 
reasoning  founded  on  their  historical  sequence  must  be 
received  with  the  greatest  hesitation  and  care. 

3.  It  is  perfectly  clear,  judging  from  facts  in  the  present 
age,  that  emigrants  from  civilised  communities  may  have 
speedily  lapsed  into  barbarism.  The  industrial  arts  of 
Britain  are  high ;  but  how  many  wanderers,  leaving  their 
homes  and  the  refinement  of  their  country,  may  betake  them- 
selves to  distant  regions  without  the  least  fitness  to  introduce 
any  of  either  the  mechanical  or  the  fine  arts  ?  How  few, 
comparatively,  of  our  emigrating  families  know  anything 
whatever  of  those  industrial  agencies  which  have  made  their 
country  great ;  or,  if  they  knew  them,  could  turn  them  to 


156  BLENDIiYG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IX. 

practical  account.  Skilled  artizans  would  soon  find  their 
experience  valueless ;  and  with  the  first  generation  the 
refinements  of  another  land  and  an  early  home  would  dis- 
appear ;  and  thus  might  a  savage  race  have  its  origin  or  first 
roots  in  no  ordinary  civilisation.  That  both  prehistoric  and 
historic  times  have  seen  such  changes,  cannot  be  doubted. 
"  Even  now,"  says  Wilson,  "  the  skill  of  the  American  miner 
has  to  be  imported,  and  the  copper  miners  of  Lake  Superior 
are  almost  exclusively  derived  from  Cornwall,  or  the  mining 

districts  of  Germany The  old  Dutchman  exported 

his  bricks  across  the  Atlantic,  wherewith  to  found  his  new 
Amsterdam  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson ;  and  the  English 
colonist,  with  enterprise  enough  to  mine  the  copper  veins  of 
Lake  Superior,  still  seeks  a  market  for  the  ore  in  England, 
and  imports  from  thence  both  the  engineers  and  the  iron 
wherewith  to  bridge  his  St.  Lawrence."  After  adverting  to 
the  migration  of  Asiatic  tribes,  he  adds, — "  Their  industrial 
arts  were  all  to  begin  anew ;  and  thus,  wherever  we 
recover  traces  of  the  first  footprints  of  the  old  Nomad 
in  his  wanderings  across  the  Continents  of  Asia  and 
Europe,  ....  we  find  that  the  Stone  period  is  not 
necessarily  the  earliest  human  period,  but  only  the  rudi- 
mentary condition  to  which  man  had  returned,  or  may 
return  again,  in  the  inevitable  deterioration  of  a  migratory 
era."^  Such  processes  and  such  results  have,  doubtless, 
often  come  and  gone.  Although  skilled  races  in  prehistoric 
ages  have  not  left  us  art  fabrics  or  other  products  to  indicate 
their  degree  of  civilisation,  and  emigrating  bands  cannot 
stamp  on  distant  regions  the  material  impress  of  that  civilisa- 
tion from  which  they  departed,  both  have  been  real,  and 
brought  into  the  solitudes  of  their  chosen  abodes  the  refined 

1  ••Prehistoric  Man,"  by  Dauiel  Wilson,  vol.  I.,  pp.  143,  144, 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  157 

feelings  and  the  social  intercourse  of  their  early  homes. 
This  refinement  no  art  structure  or  fabric  could  embody  or 
represent ;  but  in  a  generation  or  two  it  would  probably 
be  completely  lost,  although,  in  some  instances,  it  may  have 
nm  for  centuries  through  patriarchal  tribes  of  olden  times, 
and  not  a  trace  of  their  intellectual  vigour,  and  moral  worth, 
and  kindliest  sympathies  can  now  be  found. 

It  is  only  by  a  comprehensive  and  careful  survey  of  the  facts 
which  Asia  and  America,  as  well  as  Europe,  are  giving,  that 
any  reliable  conclusions  can  be  gained.  The  attention  has 
hitherto  been  too  exclusively  fixed  on  European  evidences 
or  facts,  while  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  whole 
has  been  lying  for  ages  in  the  East.  In  short,  this  classifica- 
tion of  Periods,  while  very  convenient,  and  in  some  respects 
just,  is  so  devoid  of  scientific  accuracy  that  it  cannot  be 
accepted  as  the  basis  of  conclusions  regarding  the  whole 
human  family.  It  demands  special  geographical  and  physical 
conditions  for  the  start  of  the  first  human  pair,  without  which 
the  first  two  periods — the  Palaeolithic  and  the  Neolithic — 
might  form  no  distinctive  part  of  human  history.  There  are, 
for  instance,  vast  territories  in  which  stones  are  as  scarce  as 
in  others  metals  are  rare.  South  American  tribes  have  been 
thrilled  into  ecstasies  by  finding  pebbles ;  and  in  the  ^vide 
alluvial  plains  of  Chaldaea,  stones  are  not  available  for 
common  implements.  If,  in  some  such  districts  as  these, 
the  first  pair  and  their  successors  had  nm  their  history,  the 
stone-age  probably  could  not  have  been  kno^^^l,  as  those 
who  wandered  into  stone  districts  should  have  made  such 
progress  as  to  dispense  with  them,  at  least  in  their  rough 
and  unhewn  state.  Men  living  in  a  comparatively  stoneless 
territory,  like  that  of  Mesopotamia,  may  indeed  possess  those 
quahties  of  a  high  civilisation  which,  though  but  verj^  slightly 
visible  in  mechanical  arts,  may  yet  go  forth  in  genial  public 


158  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  IX. 

combinations,   in  kindly  companionship,  elevated  thought, 
and  rehgious  observances. 

Again,  it  has,  curiously  enough,  been  concluded  by  Sir 
John  Lubbock  that  savages  do  not  sink ;   that  they  rise,  but 
do  not  fall   back.      "  It  is  a   common   opinion,"  he  says, 
"that  savages  are,  as  a  general  rule,  only  the   miserable 
remnants  of  nations  once  more  civilised ;  but  although  there 
are  some  well-established  cases  of  national  decay,  there  is  no 
scientific  evidence  which  would  justify  us  in  asserting  that 
this   is   generally   the   case.      No   doubt   there   are   many 
instances  in  which  nations,  once  progressive,  have  not  only 
ceased  to  advance  in  civilisation,  but  have  even  fallen  back. 
Still,  if  we  compare  the  accounts  of  early  travellers  with  the 
state  of  things  now  existing,  we  shall  find  no  evidence  of 
any  general  degradation.     The  Australians,  Bushmen,  and 
Fuegians  lived,  when  first  observed,  almost  exactly  as  they 
do  now.     In  some  savage  tribes  we  even  find  some  traces 
of  improvement ;   the  Bachapins,  when  visited  by  Burchell, 
had  just  introduced  the  art  of  working  in  iron;   the  largest 
erection  in  Tahiti  was  constructed  by  the  generation  living 
at  the  time  of  Captain   Cook's  visit ;    and  the  practice  of 
cannibalism   had    been   recently  abandoned ;    again,    out- 
riggers  are    said    to    have    been    recently  adopted   by  the 
Andaman  Islanders  ;  and  if  certain  races — as,  for  instance, 
some  of  the  American  tribes — have  fallen  back,  this   has 
perhaps  been  due,  less  to  any  inherent  tendency,  than  to  the 
injurious  effect  of  European  influence.     Moreover,  if  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  &c.,  had  ever 
been  inhabited  by  a  race  of  men  more  advanced  than  those 
whom  we  are  in  the  habit  of  regarding  as  the  aborigines, 
some  evidence  of  this  would  surely  have  remained  ;   and 
this  not    being    the   case,  none   of  our   travellers   having 
observed  any  niins,  or  other  traces  of  advanced  ci\ilisation. 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  159 

there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  sufificient  reason  for  suppos- 
ing these  miserable  beings  to  be  at  all  inferior  to  the  ancestors 
from  whom  they  are  descended."  ^ 

It  would  not  be  an  easy  task  to  find  a  single  passage  in 
which  assumptions,  unsustained  by  the  slender  facts  adduced, 
are  made  the  chief  support  of  a  generalisation  so  sweeping 
as  that  savages  do  not  sink ;  and,  indirectly  of  the  inference, 
that,  without  external  aid,  they  rise.  Sir  John  finds  in  the 
accounts  of  early  travellers,  as  compared  with  the  present 
state  of  things,  no  evidence  of  any  general  degradation ;  but 
the  fact  is,  that  those  to  whom  he  refers — the  Australians, 
the  Bushmen,  and  the  Fuegians — cannot  sink  lower  \\ithout 
disappearing  altogether.  Should  they  not,  on  this  theory, 
be  ere  now  showing  tendencies  upwards  ?  He  quotes  the 
Bachapins,  Tahitians,  and  Andaman  Islanders,  as  giving 
some  evidences  of  improvement ;  but  he  cannot  prove,  what 
is  specially  needed  in  the  discussion,  that  they  were  not 
visited  by  some  who  introduced  improvements,  or  that  they 
had  not  received  some  stray  traveller  who  stimulated  them 
to  new  exertions.  Admitting  that  there  might  be  occasional 
movements  somewhat  in  advance  of  sheer  barbarism,  they 
are  not  sufficient  to  counterbalance  all  the  facts  which  prove 
sameness  in  savage  life.  His  connecting  the  degradation 
and  decay  of  American  tribes  with  European  influences,  is  a 
mere  assumption.  If  the  germ  of  progress  really  exists  in 
savage  life,  contact  with  a  civilised  race  should  quicken  it, 
and  give  it  scope.  His  inference  that,  if  the  miserable 
aborigines  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Australia,  and  New 
Zealand  had  ever  superior  ancestors,  traces  of  their  existence 
should  be  found,  is  altogether  unwarranted  ;  for  it  is  quite 
possible,  as  we  have  already  shown,  that  those  who  have 

1  "  Prehistoric  Man,"  pp.  337,  338.     First  Edition. 


i6o  BLEEDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  IX. 

emigrated  from  civilised  communities,  and  have  carried  \nth 
them  to  desolate  or  unpeopled  regions  a  knowledge  of  some 
of  the  arts,  might  soon  lose  them,  because  inapplicable,  or, 
in  their  new  circumstances,  useless  ;  and  in  a  generation  or 
two  the  families  would  be  found,  in  harmony  with  the  re- 
sources of  their  country,  subsisting  like  savages,  dependent 
on  fruits,  on  fishing,  on  hunting,  or  occupying  a  somewhat 
higher  sphere  as  keepers  of  sheep  or  cattle.  Nothing,  in  all 
probability,  has  been  more  common  in  the  past,  than  that 
two  or  three  families  having  been  swept  from  the  civilisation 
of  Asia  to  some  of  the  neighbouring  islands  or  more  distant 
continents,  and  having  been  cut  off  from  all  intercourse  \\-ith 
their  parent  community,  should  leave  behind  them  as  suc- 
cessors, those  who,  in  a  generation  or  two,  would  roam  ex- 
ultantly in  the  wild  freedom  of  the  savage.  To  expect  traces 
of  early  civilisation  in  such  outlying  regions,  is  contrary  to 
the  probabilities  of  history,  and  shows  to  what  weak  reason- 
ing a  theorist  will  have  recourse,  e^-en  when  he,  distinguished 
by  merit,  is  accomplished  and  independent ;  but  to  expect 
traces  of  civilisation  in  the  central  regions  of  early  emigra- 
tion, is  on  our  side  of  this  question  perfectly  natural,  and 
we  are  not  only  bound,  but  are  prepared,  to  show  them. 

It  is^not  a  little  surprising  to  find  so  deliberate  a  thinker 
as  Sir  John  Lubbock  asserting  that  there  is  no  scientific 
evidence  which  would  justify  us  in  inferring  that,  as  a  general 
rule,  savages  are  the  remnants  of  nations  once  civilised. 
Of  course,  if  he  means  by  this  that  civilised  nations  once 
existed  where  savages  are  now  found,  as  ruins  lie  on  the  site 
of  an  old  castle,  no  one  will  assert  that  this  is  the  "  general 
rule."  The  ancestors  of  savage  tribes  have  wandered  to 
new  regions  and  sunk,  and  a  strong,  if  not  indeed  an 
irresistible  argument  in  favour  of  this  view,  is  to  be  found 
in  the  almost  universal  traditions  which  have  been  knowni 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  t6i 


to  prevail  in  nations  and  tribes  the  most  remote  from  one 
another.  Their  arts  have  perished  where  their  traditions 
have  survived.  With  the  histories  of  Egypt,  Babylon, 
Greece,  and  Mexico  in  his  hand,  it  is  perplexing  to  hear  a 
philosophic  observer  still  demanding  scientific  evidence  of 
degradation  and  decay. 

But  why  should  savages  be  stationary,  while  nations  once 
civilised  retrograde?  What  barrier  to  descent  is  there  in 
the  Ufe  of  the  savage  ?  What  physical  or  mental  obstacle  is 
it  that  checks  his  downward  career?  If  man  has  been 
developed  from  some  creature  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man, 
why  may  he  not  relapse  into  that  unworthy  creaturehood? 
Scientific  evidence  is  decidedly  in  favour  of  such  a  recurrence. 
Civilisation  is,  on  this  theory,  correspondent  to  domestication 
of  the  lower  animals,  and,  as  is  well  knov/n,  when  they  are 
left  free,  they  not  only  return  to  their  early  modes  of  life, 
but  assume  their  first  appearance.  The  horse,  when  per- 
mitted to  sweep  \vithout  restraint  over  the  wide  pampas  of 
South  America,  shows  not  new  but  original  qualities ;  and 
even  the  stiff,  slow,  lumbering  hog,  losing  in  freedom  "  the 
lethargy  of  the  sty,  exhibits  the  fierce  courage  of  the  wild 
boar."  Then,  why  is  it  that  man,  left  free  and  untutored, 
does  not  sink  in  accordance  with  this  law,  even  lower  than 
Fuegian  or  Bushman,  and  exhibit  the  wild  freedom  of  that 
strange  progenitor  which  has  not  a  name  ? 

This  should  be  the  natural  result,  and  indeed,  also,  in 
one  sense,  the  safest.  "  To  exist  at  all,"  says  the  Duke  of 
Argyll,  "  this  creature  must  have  been  more  animal  in  its 
structure  than  man.  That  structure  could  not  be  changed 
to  less  of  animal  and  mcie  of  man,  without  danger  to  his 
existence.  If  reason  obtained  a  great  start  in  advance,  the 
theory  of  development  is  destroyed.  Interposition  which 
they  deny  would   be  implied,  and   even   then,  with   such 

M 


l62  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  IX. 


advantages  as  many  tribes  do  now  possess,  life  is  most 
precarious.  These  are  reckoned  too  high  for  the  start  in 
the  race,  and  if  the  lower  animal  structure  best  suited 
these  animals,  it  is  not  likely  that,  by  Natural  Selection, 
they  should  ever  become  higher.  The  difficulties  here 
represented  are  insuperable."  If,  by  any  process,  man  should 
reach  so  high  a  stage  of  improvement  as  we  have  indicated, 
his  risks,  his  greater  bodily  weakness,  and  his  tendency  in 
common  with  all  animals  to  revert  to  the  original  Xy\>Q,  should 
bring  him  back  to  the  early  creaturehood  from  which  he  had 
unwisely  emerged. 

Whately's  demand  for  historical  evidence  of  ascent  to 
civilisation  by  any  one  savage  tribe  or  nation,  has  not  been 
met  by  any  ethnologist.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  endeavoured 
to  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  has  failed.  He  objects 
to  the  demand  as,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  impossible,  for 
monuments  are  awanting.  By  monuments,  it  would  be 
difficult,  it  is  true,  to  prove  the  race  to  have  been  originally 
savage  ;  but  there  has  been  ample  time,  if  indeed  the  germs 
of  i)rogress  exist  in  barbarous  races,  to  find  somewhere  in 
rude  incipient  monuments  evidence  of  vitality  and  growth, 
and  some  probability  of  future  eminence.  But  such 
evidence  has  not  been  offered,  nor  is  it  ever  likely  to  be 
found.  There  is  not  a  vestige  of  proof  that  those  who  lived 
in  Europe,  in  the  stone  age,  rose  to  that  of  bronze  by  their 
07i'n  wmidcd skill ;  but  there  is  very  clear  and  \t'ry  decided 
proof  that  other  races,  breaking  in  upon  the  stone-implement 
communities,  did  introduce  their  bronze  instruments,  and 
that  they  in  their  turn  received  iron  implements  from  an 
irruption  of  succeeding  races. 

Historically,  stone  implements  should  be  followed  by 
those  of  copper  and  of  tin  separately,  for  it  is  only  after 
both  had  been  in  use  for  some  time  that  we  should  expect 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  163 


the  union  of  the  two,  that  is,  of  the  copper  and  the  tin,  in 
bronze  utensils.  The  bronze,  it  is  true,  would  be  speedily 
adopted,  as  Sir  William  Wilde  suggests,  in  preference  to 
copper  or  tin,  for  general  use,  because  it  is  harder  and 
sharper;  but  still,  sufficient  time  must  have  elapsed  to 
diffuse  such  instruments  as  would  have  proved  their  intro- 
duction by  invention,  if  there  had  been  in  any  region  such 
material  historical  growth  as  the  theory  assumes.  But  it  is 
not  so.  Bronze  instruments  appear  suddenly  in  the  midst 
of  stone  implements,  without  the  intermediate  stage  of 
separate  vessels  of  copper  and  of  tin.  Sir  John  Lubbock 
has  candidly  admitted  that  the  absence  of  implements  made 
either  of  copper  or  of  tin,  indicates  that  "  the  art  of  making 
bronze  was  introduced  into,  not  invented  in,  Europe."  ^  But 
the  concession  is  historically  fatal  to  his  theory.  It  invali- 
dates the  whole  of  his  reasoning  as  to  continuity  of  progress 
from  barbarism  to  civilisation.  In  Europe,  these  periods  are 
not  a  growth,  they  are  a  series  of  distinct  additions. 

New  ideas  and  practices  were  infused  by  some  other 
nations.  The  East  is  the  only  probable  source,  and  their 
introduction  expresses  a  common  origin,  for  the  instruments 
are  not  only  generally,  but  perfectly,  alike. 

Mr.  Wright,  whose  authority  is  unquestionable,  has  declared 
that  "  the  bronze  swords  or  celts,  whether  in  Ireland,  in  the 
Far  West,  in  Scotland,  in  distant  Scandinavia,  in  Germany, 
or,  still  further  east,  in  the  Sclavonic  countries,  are  the 
same,— not  similar,  but  identical."  Professor  Nilsson  traces 
the  origin  of  bronze  implements  to  the  Phoenicians ;  and  avc 
know  that  in  the  east,  bronze  was  common  at  least  Soo  b.c, 
for  l)oth  Homer  and  Hesiod  speak  of  them,  and  by  an 
older  pen   than  either   held,  it  is  declared  in   the  fourth 


1  "Prehistoric  Times,"  Second  Edition,  p.  58. 


l64  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  IX. 

chapter  of  Genesis, — "And  Zillah,  she  also  bare  Tubal-cain, 
an  instructor  of  every  artificer  in  brass  and  iron."  Eg}q^t  in 
Joseph's  time  had  her  sharp  and  polishing  instruments,  and, 
in  Solomon's  time,  the  Sidonians  were  skilled  in  hewing 
timber,  and  the  Syrians  were  cunning  to  work  all  "works  in 
brass."  It  is  admitted  by  all  that  brass  here  means  bronze. 
More  than  three  thousand  years  ago,  bronze  was  common  in 
the  east,  and  its  sudden  appearance  in  the  west,  in  Ireland, 
for  instance,  and  in  Scandinavia,  not  only  gives  evidence  in 
favour  of  civilisation  being  dependent  on  external  influences 
for  its  progress,  but  sheds  light  on  the  question  of  time,  and 
guides  us  to  at  least  approximate  dates.  In  short,  there  has 
been  a  complete  breakdown  in  the  effort  to  prove  that,  in 
the  course  of  ages,  the  development  has  been  continuous 
from  the  rough  stone  age  to  the  smooth,  from  that  to  bronze, 
and  from  bronze  to  iron. 

Since  Archbishop  Whately  sifted,  ^^•ith  the  skill  of  a  severe 
logician,  all  the  historical  evidence  which,  up  to  his  time, 
had  been  published,  there  has  been  little  added  in  the  way 
of  discovery  or  fresh  obserwailon.  The  facts,  in  the  main,  are 
old  ;  the  collocation  only  is  new  ;  and  any  intelligent  reader 
is  competent  to  judge  of  both  as  matters  of  testimony,  and 
of  the  inferences  which  have  been  deduced  from  them.  If 
it  had  been  shown,  in  even  one  instance,  that  any  savage 
race  had  risen  to  a  recognisable  degree  of  civilisation,  with- 
out the  introduction  of  new  ideas  and  a  higher  example,  there 
would  be  presumptive  evidence  for  the  tnith  of  the  theory  ; 
yet  only  presumption,  unless  it  could  also  be  shown  tliat 
they  had  been  so  long  sunken,  that  probably  no  recuperative 
l)Ower  lingered  from  a  previous  state.  In  the  descent  from 
civilisation  to  barbarism,  a  nation  or  tribe  may  preserve  this 
recuperative  force,  when,  in  the  history  of  individuals  or  of 
isolated  tribes,  it  might  be  lost  as  they  passed  into  new 


CHAP.  IX.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  165 

territories.  The  ancient  Gauls  and  Germans,  for  example, 
preserved  this  recuperative  tendency;  and  if  such  as  the 
Australians  or  Fuegians  ever  gave  any  evidence  of  self-im- 
provement or  tribe  culture,  we  should  have  the  presumptive 
evidence  which  we  desiderate ;  but  even  that  has  not  been 
forthcoming,  and  as  yet  Whately's  demand  remains  unmet. 

Those  who,  through  close  and  varied  intercourse,  have 
had  the  best  means  of  judging  of  the  condition  and 
capabilities  of  savage  races,  have  decided  against  this 
plausible  theory.  Humboldt,  with  his  usual  caution,  has 
said,  "  The  important  question  has  not  yet  been  resolved, 
whether  the  savage  state,  which  even  in  America  is  found  in 
various  gradations,  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  dawning 
of  a  society  about  to  rise,  or  whether  it  is  not  rather  the 
fading  remains  of  one  sinking  amid  storms,  overthrown  and 
shattered  by  overwhelming  catastrophes.  To  me  the  latter 
seems  nearer  the  truth  than  the  former."  And  Sir  George 
Grey,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association, 
firmly  opposed  the  theory.  He  has  had  varied  opportunities 
of  observation,  and  in  his  view  no  advances  have  been  made 
in  really  savage  tribes.  The  stationary  remain  stationary, 
for  they  cannot  extricate  themselves,  nor  do  they  appear  to 
have  any  decided  desire  to  change  their  condition. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  prosecute  further  this  part  of  the  subject, 
as  enough  has  been  stated  to  show  that  the  historical  evidence 
is,  in  its  incompleteness,  similar  to  that  of  DarAnn  for  the 
advances  of  animal  life  and  its  fabrics;  the  links  are  awanting 
where  we  should  expect  to  find  them,  and  where  their  appear- 
ance is  indispensable  to  prove  the  theory.  Its  advocates 
have,  with  more  or  less  frankness,  confessed  their  inability  to 
account  for  those  facts  and  principles  on  which  Christian 
apologists  rest  their  historical  argument  for  the  truth  of  the 
Scripture  record  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  civilisation. 


CHAPTER  X. 

(Subject  Continued.) 

JVcTC  our  First  Parents  Savages  ? — Recent  Theories  as  to  the 
Origin  of  Civilisation  considered  in  Relation  to  the 
Mental  Faculties,  the  Moral  Sense,  and  Religion. 

"Christians  have  a  right  to  protest  against  the  anraying  of  pro- 
babilities against  the  clear  teachings  of  Scripture.  It  is  not  easy  to 
estimate  the  evil  that  is  done  by  eminent  men  throwing  the  weight  of 
their  authority  on  the  side  of  unbelief,  influenced  by  a  mere  balance  of 
probabilities  in  one  department,  to  the  neglect  of  the  most  convincing 

proofs  of  a  different  kind Thus  they  often  decide  against 

the  Bible  on  evidence  that  would  not  determine  an  intelligent  jury  in  a 
suit  for  twenty  shillings." — Professor  C.  Hodge. 

IN  attempting  to  deduce  those  mental  and  moral  results 
which  characterise  modern  civilisation  from  some 
creature  that  had  not  even  a  head  in  which  to  treasure  a 
single  idea,  theorists  have  greater  difficulties  to  overcome 
than  when  they  endeavour  to  connect  man's  body  with  the 
lowest  mollusc.  No  one  refuses  to  acknowledge  the  exist- 
ence of  intelh'gence,  memory,  and  some  measure  of  reason- 
ing power  in  many  of  the  lower  animals ;  but  such  an 
admission  stops  far  short  of  connecting  the  human  mind,  by 
lineal  descent,  with  intellectual  germs  in  some  gorilla,  or 
snail,  or  worm,  and  of  discovering  in  that  lowliest  origin  not 
only  the  foundation  of  the  complex  fabric  of  our  civilisation, 
but  the  spring  of  all  those  ideas  of  immortality,  responsibility, 
private  and  public  duties,  eternity,  and  God,  which  shed  a 
richer  splendour  over  man's  history  than  that  which  all  the 
sciences  and  arts  united  can  of  themselves  create.     The 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.     ■  167 

advocates  of  this  theory  have  utterly  failed  in  their  attempt 
to  include  in  their  system,  and  to  account  for,  the  practical 
lessons  of  Christianity.  Its  lofty  morality,  its  sublime  doc- 
trines, and  its  "  pure  and  undefiled  religion,"  are  left  without 
an  origin  or  an  aim.  As  facts,  if  as  nothing  else,  theorists 
are  bound  to  account  for  them,  or,  at  least,  as  an  outcome 
from  previous  ideas.  Let  us  examine  the  facts  which  they 
select  from  the  natural  history  of  the  lower  animals  and  of  the 
lowest  man,  to  constitute  the  basis  of  ultimate  intellectual  and 
moral  improvement.  What  evidence  is  there  that  the  ideas 
and  the  habits  of  the  lower  animals  and  the  most  sunken 
savages,  so  commingle  as  to  make  this  theory  even  plausible  ? 
Is  there  a  vestige  of  proof  to  show  that  there  has  been  an 
intermingling  of  notions  or  practices,  and  that,  through  or 
by  them,  man  has  emerged  to  that  lowest  platform  on  which 
there  was  the  first  beam  of  civilisation  ?  What  data  do  they 
present  to  warrant  our  acceptance  of  the  sweeping  con- 
clusion that  Psycholog}',  Mental  Philosophy,  Ethics,  and 
Practical  Religion,  or  the  lessons  of  Christianity,  are 
deducible  from  even  the  most  accomplished  of  the  lower 
animals  ? 

To  that  issue  the  theorist  is  brought,  and  he  is  bound  to 
face  it.  If  he  cannot  include  in  his  exposition  all  the  higher 
forms  of  Feeling,  Thought,  and  Law,  he  should  acknow- 
ledge his  failure,  and  that  we  are  justified  in  rejecting  his  con- 
clusions. 

Darwin,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
evidently  anticipating  such  legitimate  demands  as  these, 
have  resolutely  attempted  to  satisfy  them ;  and,  in  their 
respective  fields,  have  adduced  their  strongest  proofs  and 
best  reasoning.  By  placing  in  immediate  connection  their 
interlacing,  and,  sometimes,  conflicting  expositions  of  each 
topic,  we  shall  obtain  a  definite  view  of  what  has  been  most 


1 68  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

influential  in  deciding  their  opinion,  and  be  the  better  able 
to  do  justice  to  them  and  ourselves  in  forming  a  deliberate 
conclusion. 

But  to  follow  this  course,  is  to  find  the  ver)'  same  kind  of 
defective  reasoning  in  reference  to  the  descent  of  the  human 
mitid  and  the  growth  of  civilisation,  of  which  we  complained 
when  discussing  the  proof  for  the  descent  of  the  human 
body  from  some  primordial  germ  which  started  into  life 
miUions  of  years  ago.  There  are  the  same  unbridged 
chasms,  the  same  absence  of  necessary  links,  the  same 
inadequacy  of  data. 

Three  questions  require  to  be  answered.  First,  Are  there 
any  facts  to  show  the  close  connection  of  the  mind  and 
habits  of  the  highest  of  the  lower  animals  with  the  very 
lowest  of  the  human  race  ?  Second,  Is  there  any  evidence 
of  a  moral  nature  in  the  lower  animals  which  can,  even 
plausibly,  be  regarded  as  the  foundation  of  Man's  moral 
constitution  ?  And  Third,  Out  of  what  condition  is  religion 
evolved  ?  On  what  foundation  does  this  theorj'  place  it  ? 
What  is  its  influence  on  civilisation  ? 

Darwin  himself  has  answered  these  questions  with  such 
qualifications,  that  it  is  surprising  to  see  him  endeavouring 
to  fasten  together  important  conclusions  by  a  chain,  broken 
and  dissevered  through  the  absence  of  its  central  links. 

Let  us  next  consider — 

III.  Civilisation  in  Relation  to  Man's  Mental 
Faculties. 

Among  British  Naturalists  of  the  highest  standing,  there 
is  a  general  concurrence  of  opinion  as  to  the  gulf  between 
the  intellectual  faculties  of  man  and  whatever  degree  of 
mind  may  show  itself  in  the  lower  animals.  It  is  impossible 
to  connect  the  two.  Professor  Huxley  speaks  "  of  the  great 
gulf  which  intervenes  between  the  lowest  man  and  the  highest 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  169 

ape  in  intellectual  power,"  ^  "  of  the  immeasurable  and 
practically  infinite  divergence  of  the  human  from  the 
Simian  stirps,"  -  and  "  of  the  present  enormous  gulf  between 
them."^  "  At  the  same  time,"  he  repeats,  "  no  one  is  more 
strongly  convinced  than  I  am  of  the  vastness  of  the  gulf 
bet^veen  civilised  man  and  the  brutes;  or  is  more  certain 
that,  whether  from  them  or  not,  he  is  assuredly  not  of 
them."  4 

In  reference  to  this  vast  break,  Dar\\dn  is  no  less  explicit 
than  Huxley.  "When  he  is  describing  the  intellectual  distance 
between  man  and  those  creatures  which  are  nearest  him  in 
brain-organisation  and  force,  he  declares  the  difference  to 
be  enormous.  "  No  doubt,"  he  says,  "  the  difference  in  this 
respect  is  enormous,  even  if  we  compare  the  mind  of  one  of 
the  lowest  savages,  who  has  no  words  to  express  any 
number  higher  than  four,  and  who  can  use  no  abstract 
terms  for  the  commonest  objects  or  affections,  with  that  of 
the  most  highly  organised  ape.  The  difference  would,  no 
doubt,  still  remain  immense,  even  if  one  of  the  higher  apes 
had  been  improved  or  civilised  as  much  as  a  dog  has  been 
in  comparison  with  its  parent  form,  the  wolf  or  jackal."^ 
Notwithstanding  this  ^^  immense"  distance  between  the  two, 
and  the  consequent  want  of  the  least  evidence  of  any  lineal 
relations  whatever,  he  has  amusingly  assumed,  in  his  "Origin 
of  Species,"  that  he  has  discovered  such  a  mental  connection 
of  man  ^\•ith  the  lower  animals  as  shall  form  the  basis  of  a 
new  system  of  Psychology.  Mental  science  will  start  on  a 
new  track  in  search  of  other  objects  than  our  metaphysicians 
have  hitherto  kept  in  view.  His  statement  is,  "  In  the 
distant  future,  I  see   open  'fields   for   far  more  important 

1  "Man's  Place  in  Nature,"  p.  102.     ^  Ibid,  Foot-note,  p.  103. 
3  Ibid,  p.  102,     ■*  Ibid,  p.  no.      "  "Descent  of  Man,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  34. 


IJO  B LEXD I XG    LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  X. 

researclies.  Psychology  will  be  based  on  a  new  foundation, 
that  of  the  necessary  acquirement  of  each  mental  power  and 
capacity  by  gradation.  Light  \vill  be  thrown  on  the  origin 
of  man  and  his  history.''^  The  contests  of  metaphysicians 
will  cease,  even  when  the  phrenologist  has  transferred  his 
examination  of  the  supposed  compartments  of  the  human 
brain  to  the  nervous  tissues  of  the  lower  and  lowest  animals, 
and  new  triumphs  will  indeed  give  unexpected  lustre  to 
man's  history,  when  he  has  educed  from  a  material  body 
that  which  is  non-material,  and  from  the  perishing  that 
which  is  imperishable.  We  have  here  a  theory  involv- 
ing the  complete  and  immediate  overthrow  of  that  system 
of  mental  science  in  which  Mind  is  regarded  as  a  substance 
distinct  from  the  body,  and  which  has  been  developed 
by  some  of  the  most  accurate  and  powerful  thinkers  of 
recent  times,  advocated  on  the  possible  existence  of  facts  of 
which  there  is  not  the  slightest  e\idence.  Mr.  Wallace, 
who  in  originality  and  independence  as  a  thinker  and  a 
naturalist  is  Mr.  Darwin's  compeer,  rejects  his  theory 
regarding  the  descent  of  our  mental  faculties.  There  are 
faculties  and  conceptions  for  which,  in  his  view,  it  proxndes 
no  explanation.  "  But  there  is,"  he  says,  "  another  class  of 
human  faculties  that  do  not  regard  our  fello^vmen,  and 
which  cannot,  therefore,  be  thus  accounted  for.  Such  are 
the  capacity  to  form  ideal  conceptions  of  space  and  time,  of 
eternity  and  infinity.  The  capacity  for  intense  artistic 
feelings  of  pleasure  in  form,  colour,  and  composition,  and 
for  those  abstract  notions  of  form  and  number  which  render 
geometry  and  arithmetic  possible.  How  were  all  or  any  of 
these  faculties  first  developed,  when  they  could  have  been 
of  no  possible  use  to  man  in  his  early  stages  of  barbarism  ? 

»  "  Origin  of  Species,"  pp.  577,  578.      1869. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  I?! 


How  could  '  Natural  Selection/  a  sunival  of  the  fittest  in 
the  struggle  for  existence,  at  all  favour  the  development  of 
mental  powers  so  entirely  removed  from  the  material  neces- 
sities of  savage  men,  and  which  even  now,  with  our  com- 
paratively high  civilisation,  are,  in  their  farthest  develop- 
ments, in  advance  of  the  age,  and  appear  to  have  relation 
rather  to  the  future  of  the  race  than  to  its  actual  status?"  ^ 
These  questions  are  unanswerable,  and  expose  the  indisput- 
able inadequacy  of  the  foundation  on  which  Mr.  Darwin  has 
raised  his  comphcated  structure. 

Professor  Tyndall,  starting  with  the  idea  of  the  develop- 
ment of  life  from  the  star  dust,  comes  to  the  same  con- 
clusion, and  places  it  before  us  with  such  vividness  that  it 
cannot  soon  be  forgotten.  "  For  what  are  the  core  and 
essence  of  this  hypothesis  ?  Strip  it  naked,  and  you  stand 
face  to  face  with  the  notion  that  not  alone  the  more  ignoble 
forms  of  animalcular  or  animal  life,  not  alone  the  noble 
forms  of  the  horse  and  lion,  not  alone  the  exquisite  and 
wonderful  mechanisms  of  the  human  body,  but  the  human 
mind  itself,— emotion,  intellect,  will,  and  all  these  pheno- 
mena, were  once  latent  in  a  fiery  cloud.  Surely  the  mere 
statement  of  such  a  notion  is  more  than  a  refutation."  2 
Whether  life  has  its  origin  in  the  "star  dust,"  or  in  some  germs 
at  a  later  date,  the  process  is  the  same,  and  the  idea  is  equally 
absurd.  We  say  absurd,  because  there  is  not  a  trace  of 
lineal  descent  by  which  we  can  possibly  connect  with  the 
highest  and  best-informed  ape  or  gorrilla  the  intellect  of  a 
Newton,  a  Bacon,  a  Shakespeare,  or  a  Milton.  Danvm 
himself  has  admitted  that  the  facts  are  awanting  and  the 
connections  hidden.     We  must,  therefore,  be  excused  for 

1  Wallace  on  "Natural  Selection,"  pp.  351,  352- 
2  "Fragments  of  Science,  and  Scientific  Thought,"  p.  163. 


172  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

rejecting  his  inferences,  and  refusing  to  take  shelter  in  a 
fabric  which  is  confessedly  without  a  foundation. 

This  view  is  supported  by  Bunsen,  when  he  says,  "  No 
length  of  time  can  create  a  man  out  of  a  monkey,  because 
it  can  never  happen;  for  it  is  a  logical  contradiction  to 
suppose  the  growth  of  reason  out  of  its  opposite."  ^ 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  add  here,  to  the  admissions 
of  naturalists  themselves,  and  to  the  inference  of  a  philosopher, 
the  opinion  of  one  of  the  readiest  wits  and  keenest  intellects  of 
his  time.  "AVIiat,"  exclaimed  Sydney  Smith,  "has  the  shadow 
or  mockery  of  faculties  given  to  beasts  to  do  with  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  ?  It  is  no  reason  to  say  that,  because 
they  partake  in  the  slighest  degree,  of  our  nature,  they  are 
entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  our  nature?  I  confess  I 
have  such  a  marked  and  decided  contempt  for  the  under- 
standing of  every  baboon  I  have  yet  seen, — I  feel  so  sure 
the  blue  ape  without  a  tail  will  never  rival  us  in  poetry, 
painting,  and  music, — that  I  see  no  reason  whatever  why 
justice  may  not  be  done  to  the  few  tatters  of  understanding 
which  they  may  really  possess." 

IV.  Civilisation  in  Relation  to  the  Moral  Sense  or 
Conscience. 

To  the  second  question,  also,  Danvin  has  given  a  no  less 
decided  reply.  Earnest  as  he  is  in  claiming  for  the  lower 
animals  the  possession  of  mental  powers,  he  abandons  the 
idea  of  their  morality,  and  proceeds  to  build  an  ethical  system 
for  ?.ian  without  any  recognisable  foundation.  "  As  we  can- 
not distinguish  between  motives,  we  rank  all  actions  of  a 
certain  class  as  moral,  when  they  are  performed  by  a  moral 
being.  A  moral  being  is  one  who  is  capable  of  comparing  his 
past  and  future  actions  or  motives,  and  of  approving  or  dis- 

1  "Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  IV.,  p.  54. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  173 

approving  of  them.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any 
of  the  lower  animals  have  this  capacity.  Therefore,  when  a 
monkey  faces  danger  to  rescue  its  comrade,  or  takes  charge  of 
an  orphan  monkey,  we  do  not  call  its  conduct  moral."  ^  He 
admits  that  he  finds  no  morality  among  the  lower  animals;  but 
he  claims  a  moral  sense  for  man,  and  assumes  that  it  has  been 
educed  from  them  by  some  kind  of  creative  force  in  social 
instincts  and  sympathies  ;  yet  why  or  how  the  same  social 
instincts  which  he  traces  in  the  lower  animals  have  failed  to 
create  inthem  anygerm  of  conscience,  he  does  not  explain.  He 
tells  us  that  "  the  social  instincts  both  of  man  and  the  lower 
animals  have  no  doubt  been  developed  by  the  same  steps ;" 
and  he  infers,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  one  has  become 
moral,  while  the  other  has  remained  non-moral ;  nor  does  he 
improve  his  exposition  when  he  adds, — ''According  to  the 
view  given  above,  the  moral  sense  is  fundamentally  identical 
with  the  social  instincts,  and  in  the  case  of  the  lower 
animals,  it  would  be  absurd  to  speak  of  these  instincts  as 
having  been  developed  from  selfishness,  or  for  the  happiness 
of  the  community." "  Assuredly,  if  the  moral  sense  is,  as  he 
says,  "  fundamentally  identical  with  the  social  instincts,"  an 
incipient  conscience  or  "moral  sense"  should  be  found 
manifesting  itself  in  the  instincts  of  the  lower  animals.  If 
his  theory  of  "descent"  is  worth  anything,  it  should  be 
marked  by  such  a  connection  as  we  have  indicated.  That  it 
is  not,  is  the  exposure  of  another  unbridged  chasm  in  the 
path  of  descent.  In  summing  up  the  evidence  for  man's 
moral  sense,  he  introduces  elements  for  the  existence  of 
which,  on  his  theory,  he  cannot  possibly  account,  when  he 
says, — "  Ultimately,  a  highly  complex  sentiment,  having  its 
first  origin  in   the   social   instincts,  largely  guided   by  the 

1  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  I.,  pp.  88,  89.      -  Ibid,  98. 


174  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  X. 

approbation  of  our  fellowmen,  ruled  by  reason,  self-interest, 
and,  in  later  times,  by  deep  religious  feelings,  confirmed  by 
instruction  and  habit,  all  combined,  constitute  the  one  moral 
sense  or  conscience."  ^  What,  then,  of  those  tribes  which 
have,  for  generations,  been  destitute  of  instruction  and  deep 
religious  feelings  ?  Have  they  consequently  been  destitute 
of  conscience  ?  and  have  there  really  been  whole  races  of 
mankind  ^^^thout  morality,  like  the  beasts  which  perish  ?  We 
thoroughly  repudiate  the  idea  of  conscience  being  in  the 
least  dependent  on  social  instincts  for  its  very  existence, 
and  on  self-interest  for  its  exercise.  And  if  it  is  absurd,  as 
he  says  it  is,  "  to  speak  of  their  instincts  as  having  been 
developed  for  the  happiness  of  the  community,''  is  it  not 
equally  absurd  to  speak  of  them  as  having  "  certainly  been 
developed  for  the  general  good  of  the  community  "  ?  If  it  is 
true  that  the  lower  animals  have  the  same  social  instincts 
with  man,  why  do  they  not  look  ahead,  also,  to  the  "  general 
good"  of  the  community,  and  give  some  joint  token  of  "a 
moral  sense,"  at  least  in  germ  ?  If  the  social  instincts  are 
indeed  fundamentally  identical  in  the  lower  animals  and 
man,  why  are  the  results  so  widely  different?  The  facts 
which  he  adduces  are  obviously  incoherent,  and  his  reason- 
ing is  illogical. 

Herbert  Spencer  strikes  in  at  this  juncture  with  an 
ingenious  hypothesis,  which  he  explains  and  vindicates  with 
his  wonted  fervour  of  thought  and  charm  of  diction.  He 
has  boldly  accounted  for  the  origin  of  the  "  moral  sense," 
without  a  single  fact  on  which  to  rest  his  supposition.  He 
demands  from  us  the  belief  that  "  experiences  of  utility " 
and  "ner\ous  modifications"  have  been  transmitted  for 
ages,  and  have  been  so  accumulated  as  ultimately  to  create 

»  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  I,  p.  165. 


CHAP.X.]  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  ^75 


or  ''  become  in  us  certain  faculties  of  moral  intuition."    His 
words  are  "  To  make  my  position  fully  understood,  it  seems 
needful  to   add  that,    corresponding   to   the    fundamental 
propositions  of  a  developed  moral  science,  there  have  been 
and  still  are,  developing  in  the  race,  certam   fundamental 
moral  intuitions;   and  that,  though  these  moral  intuitions 
are  the  result  of  accumulated  experiences  of  utility,  gradually 
organised   and   inherited,    they   have   come    to    be    quite 
independent  of  conscious  experience.     I  believe  that  the 
experiences  of  utiUty,  organised  and  consolidated   through 
all  past  generations  ofthe  human  race,  have  been  producing 
corresponding  nervous  modifications,  which,  by  continued 
transmissions  and  accumulation,  have  become  m  us  certain 
faculties  of  moral  intuition,  active  emotions  responding  to 
right  and  wrong  conduct,  which  have  no  apparent  basis  m 
^he    individual    experiences    of    utility.-      By  this    fine 
phraseology,  we  are  liable  to  be  imposed  on,  and  to  take 
\  for  granted  that  it  is  sustained  by  facts  in  Natural  History 
and  Mental  Science ;  while  the  truth  is,  it  is  destitute  of  the 
least    support.      In   the   history   of  those   animals   whose 
instincts  and  experiences  are  best  kno.NOi  to  man  through 
succeeding  ages,  there  is  not  a  vestige  of  improvement  _;  and 
when  we  turn  to  the  records  of  the  human  race,  there  is  not 
a  single  hue  of  evidence  to  prove  that,  in   the  remotest 
generations,  there  was  only  an  incipient  moral  sense,  and 
that  succeeding  generations  show  advances  in  sensitiveness 
and  strength  of  conscience  apart  from  revealed  truth. 

This  utilitarian  hypothesis,  which  is  the  theory  of  Natural 
Selection  apphed  to  the  mind,  Mr.  Wallace  regards  as 
inadequate  to  account  for  the  development  of  the  moral 
sense   in   savage   man.       The   same   deficiency  which  we 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  Mill  in  Bain's  "Mental  and  Moral  Science,"  p.  722. 


176  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 


noticed  in  accounting  for  the  development  of  the  mental 
faculties,  is  met  when  we  endeavour  to  trace  tlie  origin  of 
the  Moral  Sense  to  experiences  of  utility ;  '*  For,"  he  says, 
**  although  the  practice  of  benevolence,  honesty,  or  truth 
may  have  been  useful  to  the  tribe  possessing  these  virtues, 
that  does  not  at  all  account  for  the  peculiar  sanctity  attached 
to  actions  which  each  tribe  considers  right  or  moral,  as  con- 
trasted with  the  very  different  feelings  ^^^th  which  they 
regard  what  is  merely  useful.  ....  The  utilitarian  sanc- 
tion for  truthfulness  is  by  no  means  very  powerful  or 
universal.  Few  laws  enforce  it.  No  vtxy  severe  reproba- 
tion follows  untruthfulness.  In  all  ages  and  countries, 
falsehood  has  been  thought  allowable  in  love,  and  laudable 
in  war ;  while,  at  the  present  day,  it  is  held  to  be  venial  by 
the  majority  of  mankind  in  trade,  commerce,  and  specula- 
tion."^ On  the  utilitarian  hypothesis,  tnUhfulness  could 
never  be  established  or  strengthened  by  sanctity  or  a  sense 
of  right ;  yet  there  is  a  mystical  sense  of  ^\Tong  attached  to 
untruthfulness  even  by  whole  tribes  of  utter  savages.  Some 
of  the  barbarous  hjU  tribes  of  India  are  distinguished  for 
veracity.  There  are  those  of  them  who  "  always  speak  the 
truth  ; "  and  Major  Jervis  says,  "  the  Santals  are  the  most 
truthful  men  I  ever  met."  A  remarkable  fact  against  the 
arguments  for  utility  to  the  individual,  is  given  by  Mr. 
Wallace.  "  A  number  of  j^jrisoners,  taken  during  the  Santal 
insurrection,  were  allowed  to  go  free  on  parole,  to  work  at 
a  certain  spot  for  wages.  After  some  time  cholera  attacked 
them,  and  they  were  obliged  to  leave  ;  but  c\-ery  man  of 
them  returned  and  gave  up  his  earnings  to  the  guard.  Two 
hundred  savages,  ^\^th  money  in  their  girdles,  walked  thirty 
miles  back  to  prison  rather  than  break  their  word  !  "     Mr. 

^  Wallace  on  "Natural  Selection,"  p.  352. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLEI^'DING  LIGHTS.  177 

Wallace's  OAvn  experience  among  savages  gave  him,  in 
similar  instances,  convincing  proof  of  truthfulness.  It  is 
held  sacred  by  some  tribes  and  despised  by  others ;  and  it 
is  difficult  to  understand  how  "experiences  of  utility"  should 
leave  overwhelming  impressions  in  some  tribes  and  none  in 
others,  or  create  in  some  "a  sanctity  which  over-rides  all 
considerations  of  personal  advantage,  while  in  others  there 
is  hardly  a  rudiment  of  such  a  feehng."  Much  as  Mr, 
Wallace  holds  in  common  wth  Darwin  and  Herbert 
Spencer,  he  repudiates  their  views  regarding  a  moral  sense, 
and  holds  it  to  be  an  essential  part  of  man's  nature,  which 
could  not  possibly  have  been  gradually  evolved  from  the 
experiences  of  utility,  transmitted  through  many  generations. 
As  has  been  quite  conclusively  shown  by  Mr.  R.  Holt 
Hutton,  in  a  remarkable  paper  in  Macmillan's  Magazine, 
there  is  no  evidence  whatever,  in  even  a  single  instance,  of 
such  a  transformation  as  Herbert  Spencer  describes,  of 
"experiences  of  utility"  passing  into  an  intuition  which  has 
become  permanent  as  a  working  force  in  the  human  race. 
After  stating  that  craftiness  was  justified  by  the  utility  of 
its  consequences  in  the  time  of  Homer's  wily  "Ulysses," 
and  that  the  maxim,  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  was  not 
introduced  until  long  after  the  most  imperious  enunciation 
of  its  sacredness  as  a  duty,  Mr.  Hutton  adds, — "Three 
thousand  years  ago  at  least,  there  is  no  trace  of  any  such 
sanction  for  honesty  in  the  literature  which  gave  to  honesty 
the  most  binding  character.  *  He  that  hath  clean  hands  and 
a  pure  heart,  who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity  nor 
sworn  deceitfully,'  'he  that  sweareth  to  his  hurt,  and  changeth 
not,'  was  not  praised  at  that  date  as  the  gainer  of  all  sorts 
of  earthly  advantages  for  society,  but  as  alone  able  to  enter 
into  communion  with  God."  He  declares  that  there  are 
no  moral  notions,  however  sacred,  which  have  not  been 

N 


178  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

promulgated  for  thousands  of  years,  and  that  the  Bible  had 
constantly  to  check  utilitarian  objections  to  their  authority, 
and  "  utilitarian  excuses  for  breaches  of  duty."  He  has  also 
well  observed  that,  if  anything  is  remarkable  in  the  history 
of  morality,  it  is  the  anticipatory  character  of  moral  principles, 
the  intensity  and  absoluteness  ^\^th  which  they  are  laid  do^^^l 
ages  before  the  world  has  approximated  to  that  ideal  which 
had  thus  early  been  asserted.  ^ 

The  attempt,  indeed,  to  explain  away  the  human  con- 
science, or  to  reduce  it  to  dependence  on  the  shifting 
experiences  of  utility,  and  on  modifications  of  the  nervous 
tissues,  has  proved  completely  abortive.  The  common 
reasoning  in  support  of  the  hypothesis  has  been  condemned 
as  fallacious  by  influential  members  of  the  same  school,  and 
as  worthy  only  of  rejection. 

Sir  John  Lubbock  himself,  perceiving  the  serious  objections 
to  which  Herbert  Spencer's  reasoning  is  exposed,  has  not 
hesitated  to  set  it  aside,  but  only  to  be  equally  unsuccessful 
in  the  substitute  which  he  has  proposed.  Repudiating 
"  utility  to  the  individual,"  he  advocates  Authority  as  the  basis 
or  origin  of  morality,  and  supports  his  conclusion  by  a 
reference  to  the  ideas  and  customs  prevalent  in  Australia, 
where  the  best  of  everything  is  by  law  given  to  the  old  men, 
who  "naturally  lose  no  opportimity  of  impressing  their 
injunctions  on  the  young,"  praising  those  who  conform,  and 
condemning  those  who  resist.  "  Authority,"  he  adds, 
"  seems  to  me  the  origin,  and  utility,  though  not  in  the 
manner  suggested  by  Mr.  Spencer,  the  criterion  of  virtue."  - 
Is  there  not  in  this  brief  statement  very  surprising  confusion? 
Authority  must  have  right  and  ^\Tong  for  its  guidance.    It  is 

^  Macmillati^s  Magazine,  ]v\y,  1869.     Sec  also  Chapter  ix.  in  Mivart's 
"Genesis  of  Species,"  for  an  able  discussion  oi Evolution  and  Ethics. 
*  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  pp.  272,  273. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  1 79 

administrative  of  what  is  just.  It  does  not  originate  duties 
and  virtues, — it  is  ruled  by  them, — and  when  authority  is 
absolute,  we  have  only  two  conditions,  despotism  and 
subjection  or  slavery.  The  ideas  of  right  and  ^^Tong  must 
have  an  acknowledged  value  as  recognised  principles,  before 
^^ Authority"  could  enforce  their  application.  If  we  accept 
Sir  John  Lubbock's  historical  explanation,  then  right  and 
^\Tong,  like  Spencer's  experiences  of  utility,  must  ultimately 
disappear  in  the  shifting  claims  of  sheer  selfishness. 

No  sooner  have  we  carefully  reviewed  the  principles  and 
inferences  which  Darwin,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Sir  John 
Lubbock  respectively  advocate  as  the  basis  and  explanation 
of  the  origin  and  progress  of  civilisation,  than  we  are 
convinced  of  their  helplessness,  as  either  intellectual  or 
moral  guides,  when  they  pass  from  the  legitimate  and  severer 
exercises  of  physical  science  and  philosophy  into  a  domain 
of  human  inquiry  which  cannot  be  safely  traversed  without 
believing,  as  a  first  truth,  that  man  has  had  given  to  him,  as 
part  of  his  complex  nature,  a  separate  spiritual  existence, 
which,  though  working  here  in  and  through  a  bodily 
organisation,  has  yet  laws  and  conditions  which  are  not 
dependent  on  the  body,  but  are  related  to  the  "  unseen  and 
eternal."  Recognising  this  complex  nature, — the  bodily,  the 
intellectual,  and  the  moral, — and  classifying  on  a  distinct 
basis  their  separate  phenomena  and  laws,  we  find  that 
the  conclusions  which  are  logically  reached  are  more  in 
harmony  with  the  teachings  of  Scripture  than  with  the 
theories  of  scepticism. 

While  this  necessarily  brief  exposition  of  their  conflicting 
opinions  as  to  the  very  foundation  of  civilisation  might  be 
largely  extended,  enough  has  been  submitted  to  show  how 
valueless  are  the  speculations  of  even  powerful  thinkers, 
when  they  attempt  to  compress  ^vithin  the  restricted  area  of 


l8o  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  X. 

Natural  Science,  the  higher  and  wider  laws  or  conditions  of 
Mental  Science  and  Moral  Philosophy. 

V.  Civilisation  in  Relation  to  Religion. 

Still  more  signal  has  been  their  failure,  in  the  effort  to 
trace  the  origin  and  development  of  religion  from  the  no- 
ideas  of  "semi-human"  beings,  to  the  doctrine  and  the 
ennobling  practical  lessons  of  Christianity.  It  is  by  no 
means  enough  that  they  look  over  the  records  of  travellers, 
and  collect  the  many  hasty  and  incongruous  beliefs  and 
practices  which  they  have  detailed,  so  that  by  an  arbitrary 
collocation  they  may  make  plausible  their  system  of 
evolution.  Nor  is  it  enough  that  they  assert  that  certain 
advanced  religious  ideas  and  practices  may  have  come  from 
others  which  preceded  them.  They  are  bound  to  demon- 
strate their  necessarily  continuous  progress,  until  they  have 
culminated  in  the  present  civilisation  of  Christendom.  Sir 
John  Lubbock  and  Mr.  W.  B.  Tylor  have  attempted  to 
accomplish,  in  reference  to  the  giowth  of  religion,  what  Mr. 
Darwin  has  failed  to  achieve  in  the  psychological  history  of 
our  race.  Beginning  with  tribes  in  which  he  says  no  trace 
of  religion  has  existed.  Sir  John  afterwards  finds  a  rudimentary 
religion,  and  attempts  to  trace,  historically,  tlie  ideas  and 
customs  expressed  by  Marriage,  Law,  and  Religion. 

Between  these  two  states  of  no-religion  and  rudimentary 
religion,  thei'e  is  another  unbridged  gulf  How  can  religion 
be  evolved  from  no-religion  ?  Throughout  his  work  on  the 
"  Origin  of  Civilisation,"  and  that,  also,  of  Mr.  W.  B.  Tylor 
on  the  "  Early  History  of  Mankind,"  apart  from  the  amazing 
industry  which  they  exhibit,  and  regarded  simply  as  philoso- 
phical discussions,  there  prevails  a  surprising  incoherency. 
Their  facts  do  not  sustain  their  inferences.  In  tracing  the 
highest  phases  of  religious  thought  back  to  the  first  dreams 
as  their  origin,  Sir  John  Lubbock  nullifies  his  own  assertion 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  i8l 

as  to  tribes  existing  without  any  religion.  If  dreams  are  the 
origin  of  our  ideas  of  the  spirit-world,  and,  ultimately,  not 
only  of  the  Deity,  but  of  our  duties  to  him  and  our  fellow- 
men,  is  it  possible  that  there  could  be  a  tribe  Avithout 
rudimentary  religion,  since  they  all  dream  ?  Dogs  dream. 
Danvin's  "semi-human"  beings,  and  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
"creatures  not  worthy  to  be  called  men,"  must  have  also 
had  their  dreams.  Why  not  their  religion  ?  If  we  accept 
this  hypothesis,  we  cannot  admit  the  existence  of  tribes 
without  any  religious  notions  or  any  sense  of  duty.  Mr. 
Tylor  does  not  commit  himself  to  the  conclusion  that  any 
tribe  ever  existed  without  religion,  nor  does  he  think  it 
"  advisable  to  start  from  this  ground  in  an  investigation  of 
religious  development."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  tribes 
have  not  been  found  any  more  than  tribes  without  language, 
or  living  mthout  fire.  The  "  assertion  that  rude  non- 
religious  tribes  have  been  known  in  actual  existence,  though 
in  theory  possible,  and  perhaps  in  fact  true,  does  not  at 
present  rest  on  sufficient  proof,  which,  for  an  exceptional 
state  of  things,  we  are  entitled  to  demand."^  This  statement, 
though  very  cautiously  expressed,  is  sufficiently  confirmatory 
of  the  objection  which  we  have  urged  to  the  whole  theory  as 
being  defective  in  essential  links.  Mr.  Tylor,  however,  agrees 
with  Sir  J.  Lubbock  in  the  conclusion,  that  all  the  various 
religious  beliefs  in  the  world,  with  their  complicated  and 
conflicting  systems  of  worship,  are  traceable  to  dreams  and 
shadows ;  and  under  the  head  "  Animism,"  he  devotes  a 
large  portion  of  his  elaborate  work,  "  Primitive  Culture,"  to 
the  elucidation  of  this  view.  It  were  a  waste  of  time  to 
enter  on  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  facts  which  Mr. 
Tylor  and  Sir  J.  Lubbock  have  piled  together  as  the  founda- 

^  "Primitive  Culture,"  vol.  I.,  p.  378. 


i82  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

tion  on  which,  they  say,  the  religious  fabrics  of  the  world 
are  resting.  In  their  very  nature,  they  are  inadequate  to 
account  for  the  clear,  definite,  and  ennobling  ideas  which 
appear  in  the  Christian  world, — ideas  which  cannot  possibly 
be  the  product  of  evolution  from  such  an  origin,  because  they 
are,  in  some  striking  instances,  not  only  repressive  but 
repugnant  to  man's  lower  nature,  in  which  their  history 
is  assumed  to  have  begun. 

With  considerable  ingenuity  it  has  been  attempted,  on 
this  theory,  to  trace  the  ideas  and  practices  through  which 
Marriage,  Law,  Spirit,  Immortality,  and  God,  have  come  to 
be  acknowledged ;  but  the  difliculties  of  the  method  have 
forced  Sir  J.  Lubbock  not  only  to  begin  with  races  without 
a  moral  sense,  and  without  morality,  but  aftenvards,  when 
morality  has  been  established,  to  dissociate  it  from  religion. 
He  rejects  the  reasoning  of  Mr.  Wallace  as  to  the  morality 
of  certain  tribes,  inquiring,  "  Does  it  prove  even  that  they 
have  any  moral  sense  at  all?"  and  adding,  "Surely  not."^ 
He  quotes  Mr.  Dove  regarding  the  Tasmanians,  to  show 
that  they  are  entirely  without  any  moral  views  and  im- 
pressions;— Mr.  Burton,  to  show  that  in  Eastern  Africa 
"  conscience  does  not  exist;"- — and  other  travellers,  to  prove 
the  same  non-morality.  But  giving  equal  time  to  the 
tribes  and  nations  of  the  world,  and  the  same  working  force 
in  dreams  and  shadows  to  produce  morality  and  religion, 
why  is  it,  or  how  is  it,  that  there  should  be  any  tribe  now 
without  either  or  both  ?  On  our  theory,  such  a  condition  is 
easily  accounted  for ;  on  his,  it  is  utterly  inexplicable.  It  is 
perfectly  clear  that  from  this  origin  no  fixed  principles  can 
be  educed  to  guide  the  world.  Without  religion,  without 
belief  in  a  higher  Being,  there  can  be  no  felt  obligation, 


J  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  263.        ■  Ilnd,  p.  264. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  183 

and,  consequently,  no  permanent  code  of  morals.  Each 
individual  and  each  tribe  will  assert,  wherever  it  is  possible 
without  impunity,  its  own  supremacy.  The  facts  which  Sir  J. 
Lubbock  quotes,  in  his  chapter  on  Character  and  Morals, 
confutes  his  own  inferences;  and  when  we  revert  to  his 
chapter  on  Religion,  which  somewhat  awkwardly  and 
illogically  he  has  introduced  before  that  on  Morals,  we 
find  it  impossible  to  connect  the  two  by  that  process  of 
development  which  it  is  his  aim  to  vindicate.  He  frankly 
concedes,  in  the  follo\\-ing  statement,  what  proves  ultimately 
an  unbridged  gulf  between  "rudimentary  religion"  and 
religion  as  it  is  in  Christendom  : — "  It  must,  however,  be 
admitted  that  religion,  as  understood  by  the  lower  savage 
races,  differs  essentially  from  ours ;  nay,  it  is  not  only 
different,  but  even  opposite.  Thus,  their  deities  are  evil, 
not  good ;  they  may  be  forced  into  compliance  with  the 
wishes  of  man;  they  require  bloody,  and  rejoice  in  human, 
sacrifices ;  they  are  mortal,  not  immortal ;  a  part  of,  not  the 
author  of,  nature,  they  are  to  be  approached  by  dances  rather 
than  by  prayers,  and  often  approve  what  we  call  vice,  rather 
than  what  we  esteem  as  virtue  ....  ^Ve  regard  the 
Deity  as  good ;  they  (the  lower  races)  look  upon  him  as 
evil :  we  submit  ourselves  to  Him;  they  endeavour  to  obtain 
control  over  Him  :  we  feel  the  necessity  of  accounting  for 
the  blessings  by  which  we  are  surrounded ;  they  think  the 
blessings  come  out  of  themselves,  and  attribute  all  evil  to 
the  interference  of  malignant  beings."  ^    , 

Mark  the  bearing  of  these  concessions.  The  religion  of 
the  lower  savages  not  only  differs  "  essentially"  from  ours, 
but  is  its  ^'opposite."  How  then  can  this  essentially  difterent 
and   opposite  religion  be  evolved  or  developed  from  that 

1  "  Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p,  116. 


1^4  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

which  is  beneath  it,  or  lower?  Such  a  result  is  inconceivable 
on  the  principle  which  runs  through  his  whole  exposition  of 
the  "Origin  of  Civilisation."  Further,  how  is  it  that  we  regard 
as  good  the  Deity,  whom  they  all  regard  as  evil  ?  What  has 
induced  this  great  change  ?  How  is  it,  also,  that,  while  there 
are  gods  of  all  qualities,  there  is  no  God  of  holiness  except 
where  the  Bible  is  acknowledged  ?  How  is  it  that  in  all 
the  systems  of  religion  in  the  world,  apart  from  the  Bible, 
there  is  endless  confusion,  and  we  can  find  no  such  grand 
and  comprehensive  description  as  that  with  which  from 
childhood  we  have  been  familiar,  — "  God  is  a  spirit, 
infinite,  eternal,  and  unchangeable  in  His  being,  wisdom, 
power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth  "  ?  ^ 

It  is  difficult  to  give  anything  like  coherence  to  Sir  J. 
Lubbock's  reasoning  on  this  subject,  for,  although  he  speaks 
of  the  "  religious  beliefs  of  the  higher  races,"  -  he  gives  the 
Bible  no  higher  place  than  other  books.  When  in  reference 
to  sacrifices,  for  example,  he  quotes  David's  saying, — *'  I 
will  take  no  bullock  out  of  thy  house,  nor  he-goats  out  of 
thy  folds,"  (Psalm  1.  9,) — he  accepts  the  statement  only  as 
in  advance  of  its  time,  and  he  accounts  for  sacrifices,  even  in 
Solomon's  time,  not  only  as  being  necessary  "  in  the  then 
condition  of  the  Jews,"  but  as  being  part  of  the  "  natural 
process  of  development "  ^  through  which  religion  must 
pass.  The  animal  sacrifices  which  he  finds  on  a  great 
scale  among  the  Jews,  he  can  understand  only  on  the 
hypothesis  that  they  were  once  usual ;  and  he  assumes,  by 
a  forced  interpretation  of  the  27th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  that 
"human  sacrifices  were  at  one  time  habitual  among  the 
Jews."  *     He  entirely  misses   the  meaning  of  the  Jewish 


^  Shorter  Catechism,  Question  4.       *  "  Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  236. 
'  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  237.     *  Ibid,  p.  243. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  185 

sacrifices,  and  fails  to  connect  tlieni  with  the  great  fact  in 
the  New  Testament  history  which  led  Paul  to  exclaim, — 
"  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  ^  We  have  referred  to  these  somewhat 
minute  yet  essential  parts  of  his  exposition,  because  they 
become  incoherent,  and  in  part  unintelligible,  when  near  its 
close  he  says, — "  The  higher  faiths,  however,  merely  super- 
imposed themselves  on,  and  did  not  eradicate,  the  lower 
superstitions."  -  Whence  are  these  higher  faiths?  Are  they 
revealed  or  evolved  ?  And  how  came  they  to  superimpose 
themselves  1  The  difficulty  is  not  lessened  when,  in  the 
next  paragraph,  he  says,  "  Nay,  in  the  absence  of  education, 
not  even  Christianity  prevents  mankind  from  falling  into 
these  errors."  ^  He  does  himself  the  greatest  possible 
injustice  if  he  recognises  Christianity  as  a  revealed  system, 
"superimposing"  a  higher  faith,  revolutionising  the  world, 
and  ennobling  it  with  the  fullest  possible  civilisation,  and 
yet  does  not  set  it  down  as  the  basis  of  all  that  is  true, 
permanent,  and  heavenly  in  the  moral  and  religious  evolu- 
tion of  the  human  race. 

We  most  cordially  concur  in  Sir  J.  Lubbock's  statement 
that  science  is  rendering  "immense  service"  to  the  cause 
of  religion  and  humanity,  and  that  true  science  and  true 
religion  cannot  be  really  opposed  to  one  another ;  but  we 
repudiate  the  idea  that  "  true  religion,  without  science,  is 
impossible."  St.  Peter  and  others,  in  apostolic  times,  knew 
little  of  physical  science,  for  it  is  to  that  section  of  thought 
Sir  J.  Lubbock  refers ;  but  he  will  not  deny  that  they  exem- 
plified true  religion,  and  that  "  to  the  poor  "  the  gospel  was 
preached. 

We  think  he  has  also  signally  failed  in  his  estimate  of  the 

*  Galatians  vi.  14.     '  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  255.     ^  Ibid,  p.  256. 


l86  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 


power  of  religion,  and  of  the  tendencies  of  the  human  heart 
and  intellect,  when  he  declares  that  he  holds  the  non- 
existence of  religion  among  savage  races  to  be  their  original 
condition,  because  "  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  a  people 
which  had  once  possessed  a  religion  should  ever  lose  it."  ^ 
He  knows  little  of  the  condition  of  our  sunken  population 
in  large  towns,  who  can  write  thus  regarding  the  preservation 
of  religious  beliefs  among  them.  Men  may  not  be  able  to 
forget  the  religion  wliich  they  were  once  taught,  or  to  root 
out  every  vestige  of  the  religious  belief  which  they  have 
deUberately  abandoned,  and  to  that  extent  Sir  J.  Lubbock's 
declaration  may  be  true,  that  "  Man  can  no  more  voluntarily 
abandon  or  change  the  articles  of  his  religious  creed  than  he 
can  make  one  hair  black  or  white,  or  add  another  cubit  to 
his  stature ; "  -  but  beyond  that  it  is  not  true,  and  gives  no 
support  to  his  theory.  Our  experience  of  the  helplessness 
and  ignorance  of  those  who  have  been  allowed  to  grow  up 
in  our  great  cities,  unheeded  by  man  and  reckless  of  the 
future,  warrants  our  unqualified  ^ejection  of  this  too  generous 
statement.  In  an  examination  of  factory  workers  in  which, 
when  attending  the  Glasgow  University,  we  took  part  with 
others,  at  the  request  of  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and 
philanthropic  merchants  in  the  city,  the  ignorance  which 
prevailed  of  the  simplest  Bible  truths,  was  conclusive  proof 
of  the  almost  incredible  rapidity  with  which  a  people  might 
sink  through  even  civilised  society,  into  that  state  spoken  of 
by  the  apostle  as  "  having:  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the 
world."  ^     They  had  not  aoandoned  their  religious  belief,  for 

*  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  348;  see  also  "British  Association 
Reports,"  p.  121.     1867.     Diuulcc.    *  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  548. 

'Some  answered  that  "God  was  the  first  man;"  some  that 
"Jesus  was  ihc  first  man  ;"  some  that  "  Eve  w.as  the  first  man  ;"  some 
"never  heard  of  heaven  or  hell;"  and  one  answered  that  she  "kcnt 


CHAP.  X.]  BLEA'DING   LIGHTS.  187 

they  had  never  been  taught  any,  and  their  "social  instincts" 
did  not  much  assist  them.  Many  of  them  had  no  conception 
Avhatever  of  a  Deity,  of  future  reward  or  punishment,  of 
heaven  or  hell ;  and  they  were  as  ignorant  of  the  facts  of 
Scripture  as  if  they  had  been  brought  up  in  Timbuctoo  or 
Unyanyembe  !  If  such  thorough  ignorance  of  all  reHgion 
and  its  duties  can  be  found  in  a  city  representing,  in  its 
West-End,  the  luxury,  the  culture,  and  the  refinement  of 
modern  civilisation,  what  degradation  and  sunkenness  might 
we  not  expect  in  the  territories  of  neglected  savage  tribes  ? 
This  sunken  condition  is  by  no  means  exceptional.  The 
varied  experiences  of  town  missionaries  have  furnished 
similar  facts,  and  confirmed  the  conclusion  that  morally, 
intellectually,  and  physically,  man  does  often  sink  from  a 
higher  to  a  lower  level.  Men  lose  religious  knowledge, 
they  cease  to  believe  religious  truth,  and  they  fall  away  from 
religious  duty.  This  has  been  admirably  stated  by  the 
Duke  of  Argyll ;  ^  and  there  is  perhaps  no  part  of  Sir  J. 
Lubbock's  reply  which  is  weaker  than  his  treatment  of  this 
objection.  -  Although  religions,  as  he  asserts,  may  not  be 
put  on  nor  cast  off  like  garments,  according  to  their  utility, 

naething  about  thae  things  ; "  some  were  ignorant  of  the  resurrection, 
and  refused  to  believe  it ;  some  said  the  soul  would  die  with  the  body  ; 
and  one  on  being  asked  simple  questions  about  Moses,  Joseph,  Daniel, 
and  others,  said  she  "did  not  know  any  of  these  gentlemen."  The 
examination  embraced  698  workers,  male  and  female,  between  13  and 
21  years  of  age,  in  four  factories,  viz.,  two  spinning,  one  steam-loom, 
and  one  woollen,  and  was  conducted,  during  six  evenings,  by  twelve 
schoolmasters,  the  Rector  of  the  Normal  College,  and  six  students  of 
the  University,  assisted  by  the  overseers  of  each  public  work.  The 
examination  was  thorough,  and  revealed  a  state  of  almost  utter 
heathenism,  which  confounded  us.  The  facts  were  published  at  the 
time,  and  were  not  called  in  question. — See  "  S tow's  Training  System," 
p.  128.      lOth  edition. 

1  "Primeval  Man,"  p.   156.     *  "Origin  of  Civilisation,"  p.  348. 


BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  X. 


beauty,  or  power  of  comforting,  they  may  be  gradually 
reduced  or  worn  out,  or  become  so  patched  that  the  original 
texture  may  be  scarcely  recognisable,  or  they  may  be 
scornfully  torn  off  and  flung  aside  by  infidels,  Avhose  families 
are  allowed  to  grow  up  in  neglect  of  every  religious  obser- 
vance. A  very  generous  weakness  is  betrayed  by  Sir  J. 
Lubbock,  when  he  gives  the  following  reason  for  the  per- 
manence of  religious  influences  :  —  "  Religion  appeals  so 
strongly  to  the  hopes  and  fears  of  men ;  it  takes  so  deep  a 
hold  on  most  minds  ;  it  is  so  good  a  consolation  in  times  of 
sorrow  and  sickness,  that  I  can  hardly  believe  any  nation 
would  ever  abandon  it  altogether."  ^  Nations  may  not 
deliberately  abandon  their  religion  ;  yet  emigrants  to  other 
lands  may  gradually  or  rapidly  lose  it,  and  found  communities 
or  tribes  in  which  religious  beliefs  are  but  dimly  perceptible. 
In  large  towns  like  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  and  London,  there 
may  linger  among  the  sunken  masses  vague  notions  of  a 
power  in  religion,  so  long  as  the  Sabbath  bells  and  a  day  of 
rest  proclaim  its  existence  \  but  in  such  notions  there  can 
be  no  support,  nor  consolation,  nor  civilising  influence. 

On  his  theory,  how  can  religion  be  of  the  least  practical 
value  ?  It  is  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  it  is  a  religion  without  a 
Bible  and  without  a  Saviour,  originated  in  those  irrational 
creatures  which  are  beneath  man,  and  developed  by  a  pro- 
cess which  no  one  can  comprehend.  It  is  at  best  a  struggle, 
an  upheaval ;  it  cannot  ujilift  or  attract  us,  it  has  no 
hcavcnUiicss,  and  of  what  avail  can  it  possibly  be  to  the  spirit 
as  it  is  leaving  the  "earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle"  for 
"  the  unseen  and  eternal." 

By  these  theorists,  we  are  left  ignorant  of  the  future. 
They  can  know  nothing  of  it, — their  philosophy  fails  them, — 

^  "British  Association  Reports,"  p.  121.     1867. 


CHAP.  X.]  BLEhWING  LIGHTS.  I §9 

they  ignore  in  their  history  of  civilisation  the  one  Book 
which  can  explain  aright,  because  it  originates,  its  highest 
forms, — which  is  the  true  Interpreter  of  History, — and  the 
Sanctifying  Force  which  is  to  uplift  a  sunken  world. 

"Wliat  are  the  highest  aspirations  of  these  guides  ?  What 
practical  form  does  their  religion  assume  ?  And,  of  what 
moral  value  can  it  be  to  the  human  race  ?  Let  themselves 
speak.  Dar^vin  has  said,  after  referring  to  the  strange 
superstitions  and  customs  which  have  prevailed,  as  being 
"  terrible  to  think  of,"  "  yet  it  is  well  occasionally  to  reflect 
on  these  superstitions,  for  they  show  us  what  an  infinite 
debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  " — to  whom  ?  to  man  ?  to  God, 
the  bountiful  giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift?  no  ! — "to 
the  improvement  of  our  reason,  to  science,  and  our  accumu- 
lated knowledge."^  Think  of  that,  ^^ gratitude  to  scietice"  and 
to  our  o\vn  ^^accumulated  knowledge"  ! !  As  well  is  it  to  speak 
of  gratitude  to  stocks  and  stones,  or  other  senseless  things. 

Nor  does  Herbert  Spencer  guide  us  to  a  clearer  atmos- 
phere and  a  firmer  resting  place,  when  he  reasons  in  favour 
of  a  progress  which  shall  cease  altogether  when  an  '*  equili- 
brium "  has  been  established  between  man  and  his  surround- 
ing conditions.  When  the  internal  forces  which  we  know  as 
feelings  are  perfectly  balanced  by  the  external  forces  which 
they  encounter,  then  there  will  be  reached  something  like 
the  repose  of  heaven.  -     Is  such  a  result  possible  ?     Does 

^  "  Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  I.,  pp.  68,  69. 
^  Herbert  Spencer's  words  are — "  The  adaptation  of  man's  nature  to 
the  conditions  of  his  existence,  cannot  cease  until  the  internal  forces, 
which  we  know  as  feelings,  are  in  equilibrium  with  the  external  forces 
they  encounter.  And  the  establishment  of  this  equilibrium  is,  the 
arrival  at  a  state  of  human  nature -and  a  social  organisation  such  that 
the  individual  has  no  desires  but  those  which  may  be  satisfied  without 
exceeding  his  proper  sphere  of  action,  while  society  maintains  no 
restraints  but  those  which  the  individual  voluntarily  respects." — First 
Principles,  p.  5 1 2. 


IQO  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

philosophy  warrant  the  supposition  that  discipline  shall 
cease,  and  man's  intellectual  and  moral  nature  shall  be 
balanced  betAveen  opposing  forces?  The  hypothesis  is 
unscientific.  It  violates  the  laws  which  history  and  our 
constitution  have  proved  to  be  permanent  and  ineradicable, 
in  our  yearning  after  a  higher  and  brighter  existence  than  this 
world  can  know.  We  may  at  once  set  aside,  as  untrue  to 
nature,  "the  conclusion  that  ever  there  shall  be  a.  condition 
on  earth  in  which  human  desires  will  be  satisfied  through  any 
conceivable  combination  of  external  forces  with  internal  feel- 
ings, and  that  the  hitherto  unsatisfied  pantings  of  the  soul  will 
cease  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  dull  repose  of  themerebnite.  He 
has  studied  the  struggles  of  the  human  mind  to  little  purpose, 
indeed,  who  believes  that  aught  earthly  can  satisfy  its  deepest 
longings.  To  accept  Herbert  Spencer's  theory  of  the  high- 
est conceivable  form  of  civilisation,  is  to  assume  that  man's 
unquenchable  thirst  shall  be  satisfied  here,  that  desire  shall  be 
lost  in  the  stupor  of  luxury,  and  that  hope  itself  shall  perish 
in  earth-born  perfection. 

Beautiful  as  the  theory  is  in  the  presence  of  the  imagin- 
ation, facts  do  not  sustain  it ;  and  our  reason  scorns  it,  as 
violating  some  of  those  laws  by  which  the  human  constitution 
is  being  ever  disciplined  in  relation  to  the  unseen  and  eternal. 
The  speculations  in  which  many  indulge,  varied  as  they 
are,  and,  in  some  instances,  really  invigorating  as  mental 
gymnastics,  are  yet  unprofitable,  and  we  must  add,  illogical. 
Divested  of  those  ideas  which  the  theorists  have  uncon- 
sciously drawni  from  the  Christianity  that,  like  the  atmos- 
phere, is  diffused  over  society  in  Britain,  their  speculations 
could  not  bear  the  touch  of  the  gentlest  test.  They  have 
no  right  to  use  its  ])rinciples,  for  the  only  ideas  which  they  can 
employ,  with  logical  fairness,  are  those  which  issue  from  their 
own  departments  in  the  Natural  History  of  the  lower  animals 


CHAP.  X.]  BLEXDIXG  ^ LIGHTS.  ^Ql 


and  man.     Their  ideas  of  "sin"  and  "sorrow  and  repen- 
tance" of  a  "moral  sense,"  and  of  a  miiversal,  beneficent, 
and  Holy  Creator  and  Ruler,  ^  are  obviously  borrowed  from 
the  Bible,  and  the  Christian  system  which  it  unfolds;  and 
yet  they  professedly  exclude  both.     Let  them  carr>^  out  their 
principles,  and  the  legislation  of  Britain  will  pass  into  the 
confusion  which  "strikes"  among  the  employed  and  the  com- 
binations of  the  employers  are  already  beginning  to  create, 
mat  principles  and  what  precepts  can  legislators  m  the 
Darwin,  or  Herbert  Spencer,  or  Sir  J.  Lubbock  school,  brmg 
to  bear  on  contending  masses  of  man,  which  can  be  of  the 
least  practical  value,  except  those  which  are  drawn  from 
Scripture,  and  which  inculcate  ^vith  all  the  majesty  of  Dn^ne 
authority  the  obligations  of  self-denial  and   mutual  love? 
Selfishness  and  utilitarianism  in  political  economy  will  be 
ine^dtable  results  on  the  theory  of  Natural  Selection,  and  the 
"survival  of  the  fittest"  will  be  the  prevalence  of  Might  only. 
Their  teaching  bears  us  back  to  the  too  long  honoured  plan,— 
"That  they  should  take  [select]  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 
Natural  Selection  can  acknowledge  no  law,  and  Barbarism 
can  create   none.     "Where   there   is   no   law,  there  is  no 
transgression."     This  nation,  if  civilisation  is  to  prevail  m  its 
highest  and  most  enduring  form,  must  revert  with  more  than 
its  old  earnestness  to  the  principles  which  the  Word  of  God 
inculcates;  for  through  these  only,  is  that  righteousness  made 
powerful  by  which  nations  are  permanently  exalted. 

1  See  Sir  T  Lubbock's  "Prehistoric  Times,"  p.  387,  2nd  edition; 
and  also  Darwin's  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  II.,  p.  395,  jhe'-e  it  is 
said-"  The  idea  of  a  universal  and  beneficent  Creator  of  the  Universe 
does  not  seem  to  arise  in  the  mind  of  man  until  he  has  been  elevated 
by  long-continued  culture."  Culture  has  never  given  that  idea  apart 
from  the  Bible  or  tradition. 


192  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

We  cannot  leave  this  subject  without  protesting  against 
the  notion  which  some  appear  to  cherish,  when  they  charge 
us,  —  sometimes  by  hints,  and  sometimes  openly, — with 
being  unfavourable  to  science,  and  fearing  it.  We  are  not. 
We  love  it.  The  Works  of  God  in  creation  are  a  source  of 
inexhaustible  delight  to  every  student.  Ne.\t  to  the  guidance 
of  the  Word  of  God,  the  lessons  of  His  Works  are  the  most 
impressive,  animating,  and  enriching.  That  man's  heart  is 
not  right,  who  is  not  elevated  by  the  beauties,  and  even  by  the 
very  mysteries  which  Nature  is  ever  spreading  before  him  ; 
but  while  conceding  all  this,  we  cannot  accept  as  true  the 
declaration  that  science  can  of  itself  make  us  "  innocent " 
or  more  virtuous,  and  that  "religion  is  impossible  without  it." 
The  highest  possible  civilisation  will  combine  them  both. 
"When  they  shine  upon  one  another,  pouring  forth  their 
treasures  of  light  for  man's  enlargement  and  comfort,  Science, 
Philosophy,  Theology,  and  Religion,  may  be  found  mutually 
helpful.  We  resist  their  separation.  We  keep  side  by  side 
the  Works  and  the  Word  of  God.  The  longer  the  humble 
student  looks  into  the  Word  of  God,  the  more  imposing 
does  the  grandeur  of  its  revelation  become,  and  the  more 
satisfying  to  the  soul  is  its  deepening  confidence  in  its  God. 
But  there  is  this  peculiarity  in  the  mar\-ellous  volume,  that 
while  it  impresses  the  philosopher,  it  interests  the  child. 
Within  this  record,  while  there  are  treasured  up  for  us 
wondrous  facts,  tcnderest  sj-mpathies  and  purest  thoughts, 
profoundest  philosophy,  and  mysterious  movements  of  Dinne 
government  and  of  sovereign  grace,  into  which  angels  love  to 
look,  there  are  also  teachings  so  simple  and  so  direct  that  a 
child's  lip  can  lisp  them,  and  a  child's  life  embody  them. 

There  maybe  true  religion  in  the  life  of  the  young  without 
much  of  the  profounder  theology  on  which  many  e.xpend 
their  strength.      So,   also,  "  pure   and  undefiled  religion  " 


CHAP.  X.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  193 

may  exist  ^\'ithout  attainments  in  Natural  Science.  Men 
ignorant  of  the  speculations  of  the  philosopher,  and  unable 
to  comprehend  the  calculus  of  the  mathematician,  or  to 
apply  any  of  the  tests  of  the  scientist,  may,  notwithstanding, 
enjoy  vigorous  health,  be  nerved  by  the  bracing  breeze,  and 
revel  in  the  beauty  of  a  summer's  landscape  or  in  the  wild 
turmoil  of  a  -winter's  storm ;  so,  also,  those  who  are  similarly 
ignorant  may  have  health  of  soul,  and  delight  in  the  beauties 
of  holiness,  while  they  realise,  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
"  the  chief  among  ten  thousand,  and  altogether  lovely." 
Millions  of  our  working  population,  unacquainted  with 
recent  discoveries  of  science  and  applications  in  art,  and 
undisturbed  by  conflicting  Biblical  criticisms  or  historic 
doubts,  or  the  problems  of  speculative  theology,  may,  not- 
withstanding, have  that  foith,  and  that  experimental  know- 
ledge of  the  few  simple  doctrines  which  are  related  to  sin, 
repentance,  pardon,  and  peace,  and  may  be  marked  by  that 
refinement  of  feeling,  of  language,  and  of  conduct,  which 
Christianity  alone  imparts,  and  which  of  itself  constitutes  a 
civilisation  incomparably  nobler  than  that  which  science 
alone  can  ever  evolve. 

The  bold  assumptions  by  modem  theorists  of  progress, 
are  to  be  strenuously  resisted.  They  claim  it  as  their  dis- 
tinctive characteristic ;  but  we  do  not  yield  it ;  while 
partially  theirs,  it  is  pre-eminently  ours.  Progress  ^vith  us 
has  not  only  a  more  comprehensive  range  of  feeling  and  of 
tliought,  but  a  grander  close,  while  they  are  left  behind  in 
comparative  gloom.  That  the  affections  be  purified  and 
exalted,  the  understanding  enlightened,  the  will  made  sub- 
missive, and  the  imagination  regulated,  is  the  law  of  the 
Christian's  life.  His  path,  like  that  of  the  just,  shall  shine 
"  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day."  Sanctification  is 
evolution  in  its  highest  fonn,     Follomng  on  to  know  the 

o 


194  BLEXDIXG  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  X. 

Lord  is  the  Christian's  privilege,  and  to  bear  in  love  his 
brother's  burden,  is  to  "  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ" !  Thus  man 
may  reach  the  summit  of  civilisation  on  earth,  but  progress 
hereafter  shall  be  continuous,  development  of  character  in 
eternity  may  be  anticipated.  Capacity  will  be  enlarged. 
"  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be ;  but  we  know  that 
when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him."  The  light  of 
Scripture,  blending  with  that  of  Science,  not  only  to  enlarge 
our  conceptions,  but  to  cheer  and  guide  us  on  our  earthly 
pilgrimage,  shines  beyond  tlie  gloom  of  death  into  the  dis- 
tant fiiture,  and  reveals  intuitional  attainment.  By  its  light, 
we  discover  unfailing  advancement.  Imposed  limit  there  is 
none.  Growth  in  knowledge  will  never  cease.  It  may  be 
ours,  in  that  new  and  heavenly  sphere,  to  rise  from  stage  to 
stage  in  perfect  bliss,  sounding  depth  and  solving  problem, 
seeing  as  we  are  seen,  and  reaching  heights  of  thought,  from 
which,  when  we  look  back  on  all  that  we  deemed  grandest 
here,  we  shall  regard  them  but  as  child-experiences  in  the 
comprehensiveness  and  magnificence  of  those  attainments 
which  eternity  shall  evolve  and  sustain. 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  Antiquity  of  Man— The  Bible  Chronology— The 
Chronology  of  Geologists. 

"And  while  the  student  of  nature  goes  on  honestly,  patiently,  diffi- 
dently, observing  and  storing  up  his  observations,  and  canying  his 
reasonings  unflinchingly  to  their  legitimate  conclusions,  convinced  that 
it  would  be  treason  to  the  majesty  at  once  of  science  and  of  religion,  if 
he  sought  to  help  either  by  swerving  ever  so  little  from  the  straight  rule 
of  truth  ;  yet  he  does  all  this  under  a  reverent  sense  of  responsibility, 
fostered  and  deepened  by  his  religious  convictions." — The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 

WE  have  reached  another  and  higher  stage,  but  only 
to  be  beset  by  new  difficulties.  Such  questions 
are  pressed  upon  us  as — When  was  Man  created  ?  Through 
what  periods  has  his  history  passed?  Does  the  Bible  chro- 
nology harmonise  with  those  long  ages  through  which, 
according  to  some  distinguished  geologists  and  archaeolo- 
gists, Man  has  existed? 

Before  we  enter  on  the  discussion  of  the  facts  and  infer- 
ences which  they  adduce,  it  is  indispensable  that  we  deter- 
mine what  the  Bible  teaches  on  this  subject,  and  what, 
consequently,  we  are  really  bound  to  defend. 

I. — The  Bible  Chronology,  and  its  Teaching  as  to 
THE  Antiquity  of  Man. 

Much  confusion  and  much  unnecessary  alarm  have  arisen 
from  a  disregard,  on  the  part  of  Christian  apologists,  of  what 
the  Bible  does  teach  concerning  the  Antiquity  of  Man ;  and 
one  of  the  benefits  v/hich  extending  science  has  conferred, 
has  been  to  compel  interpreters  to  look  more  closely  to  the 


196  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 

Scriptures,  and  to   remove   every  incrustation  with  which 
their  predecessors  may  have  encumbered  the  text. 

We  have  no  definite  Bible  clironology.  No  texts  give  the 
date  of  either  the  Creation  of  Man  or  of  the  Deluge  ;  accord- 
ingly, the  period  between  them  is  variously  estimated.  In 
the  Hebrew  chronology,  for  example,  it  is  1656  years ;  in 
the  Samaritan,  1307  ;  in  tlie  Septuagint,  2262  ;  and  in  Jose- 
phus,  2256.  The  common  conclusion  that  6000  years  make 
up  man's  history,  cannot  be  positively  established.  AVTaile 
the  chronology  deduced  from  the  Hebrew  gives  4000  years 
between  Adam  and  Jesus  Christ,  that  of  the  Septuagint  extends 
man's  history  by  1 500  years,  making  the  period  of  his  exist- 
ence 5532,  years;  and  some  increase  this  difference  by  120 
years  more.  We  have  to  deal  with  the  question,  it  is  true,  only 
in  relation  to  the  history  of  man  since  the  Deluge,  but  the 
same  elasticity  is  apparent  in  the  chronology  after  the  flood 
as  before  it.  As  part  of  the  Scripture  genealogies  is  definite 
and  part  indefinite,  we  have  no  means  of  determining  satis- 
factorily what  is  the  length  of  Man's  history;  or,  in  other 
words,  the  Antiquity  of  the  race.  The  conseqence  is,  that, 
apart  altogether  from  recent  geological  disquisitions,  different 
dates  and  periods  have  been  stated  and  resolutely  defended. 
Ussher,  Hales,  Petavius,  Jackson,  Poole,  and  Bunsen,  for 
example,  have  published  widely  var)'ing  results.  By  a  close 
examination  of  the  separate  genealogical  tables,  we  are  taught 
other  tlian  purely  historical  truths,  and  we  may  well  pause 
before  concluding  that  they  are  meant  merely  as  a  basis  for 
any  chronological  system  whatever.  '  ^Vhile  many  systems 
have  been  advocated  in  avowed  and  irreconcilable  opposi- 
tion to  the  Bible,  it  is  evident  that  the  differences,  even  among 

*  Sec  an  instructive  article,  Does  Siripture  settle  the  Antujuity  of  Man  ? 
in  the  "British  and  F'orcign  Evangelical  Review,"  l)y  Rev.  Malcolm 
While,  M.A.     January,  1872. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  197 

those  who  are  devout  beUevers  in  its  reliableness,  are  such 
that  no  sane  man  can  dogmatise  as  to  its  chronology.  "The 
extreme  uncertainty,"  says  Dr.  Hodge,  "attending  all  at- 
tempts to  determine  the  chronology  of  the  Bible,  is  suffi- 
ciently evinced  by  the  fact,  that  one  hundred  and  eighty 
different  calculations  have  been  made  by  Jewish  and  Christian 
authors,  of  the  length  of  the  period  between  Adam  and  Christ. 
The  longest  of  them  make  it  six  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-four,  and  the  shortest,  three  thousand  four  hundred 
and  eighty-three  years.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  is 
vfery  clear  that  the  friends  of  the  Bible  have  no  occasion  for 
uneasiness.  If  the  facts  of  science  or  of  history  should 
ultimately  make  it  necessary  to  admit  that  eight  or  ten 
thousand  years  have  elapsed  since  the  creation  of  man,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  Bible  in  the  way  of  such  concession.  The 
Scriptures  do  not  teach  us  how  long  men  have  existed  on 
the  earth.  Their  tables  of  genealogy  were  intended  to  prove 
that  Christ  was  the  son  of  David  and  of  the  Seed  of  Abraham, 
and  not  how  many  years  have  elapsed  between  the  creation 
and  the  advent."  ^  Although  eight  or  ten  thousand  years 
are  insignificant,  compared  with  the  long  periods  over  which 
geologists  carry  the  history  of  man,  they  may  prove  ultimately 
more  than  sufficient  to  cover  the  facts  alike  of  science  and  of 
history.  But  while  it  is  acknowledged  that  we  have  no  rigid 
chronological  system  in  the  Bible  on  which  to  fall  back,  that 
admission  is  widely  diffi;rent  from  accejDting  the  conclusions 
of  the  geologist,  and  attempting  to  force  the  Bible  into 
harmony  with  them. 

Let  us  now  examine 

II. — The  Chronology  of  the  Geologists. 

Of  all  the  sciences,  geology  is,  in  many  respects,  the  most 

^  "Systematic  Theolog)',"  vol.  II.,  p.  41.     By  Charles  Hodge,  D.D. 


198  BLENDING  LIGHTS    .  [CHAP. 


xr. 


indefinite.     The  data  are  uncertain,  anf  i  conclusions  as  to 
Time  are  generally  so  Nague  as  to  be  a^  Imost  useless.     'I'lie 
problems  of  the  geologist,  like  those  of  the  ^^  mechanic,  depend 
for  their  solution  on  the  elements  of  Force    zxidi  Time.     Let 
force  be  increased,  and  time  may  be  lessenec  J;   but  let  time 
be  prolonged,  and  a  correspondingly  lessened  .  /orce  will  pro- 
duce the  same  result  as  a  greater  force  in  shortelk  ••  time.    The 
geologist,  therefore,  in  looking  only  to  results,  n',  uiy-make  the 
time  long  or  short  which  was  necessary  to  proCduce  certain 
effects,  according  as  he  makes  the  elements  of  lovng  time  or 
of  great  force  predominate.  I 

Looking  into  the  immeasurable  Past^  he  endea  vours  to 
break  it  into  indefinite  sections  by  such  terms  as    '<  eras  " 
"  epochs,"  and  "  cycles ;"   and  he  has  introduced  i-x  va<rue 
chronology  by  speaking  of  Time  as  pre-geological,  geo  logical 
and   historical.      That  remote   period  which   starts  t.-)n   its 
course   backward   from  the  date  of  the  first  fossil,  ii 
geological;  the  period  extending  from  the  first  fossil  t(\ 
first  man,  is  geological;   and  that  which  follows  is  Itistor 
as  more  or  less  strictly  related  to  man.  ^      Dr.  Page  rega 
the  first  as  an  abysm  which  the  human  intellect,  in  ev> 
its  boldest  moods,  shrinks  from  exploring.     But  there  ai 
workers  in  Natural  Philosophy  busy  with  problems  which  li 
beyond  the  sphere  of  the  geologist,  and  by  whose  labours  tlu 
whole  question  of  Time  may  be  soon  reduced  within  a  more 
manageable  compass  than  at  present.     This  remark  applic 
also  to  the  historical  period,  which,  in  its  divisions  and  in  if 
extent,  is  still  wrapped  in  obscurity,     ^^'e  are,  as  yet,  onl 
have  been  \i(i^  °^  ^^^^^  great  field  of  inquiry,  and  while  theorit 
tion  to  the  Bible  it  iP^^^^PS  in   the   meantime   indispensable 

be  sign  only  of  weakness  or  ignorance. 

^  See  an  instructive  article,  Doi 


in  the  "British  and  Foreign  L       -,     ^,  ,     ,,  ,     ^     „ 

Wliitc,  M.A.     January,  1872.  °f^''^^^^''''    by  Dr.  Page,  p.  219. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  199 


Our  investigation  is  for  the  present  limited  to  the 
geological  period  which  has  been  designated  the  historical, 
or  rather  to  that  which  is  connected  with  Prehistoric 
Arc/ueology,  in  as  far  as  it  mingles  its'  facts  with  those  of 
geology.  The  two  sciences  are  intenvoven.  As  in  the  one, 
a  stone  hatchet,  a  flint  arrow-head,  a  fragment  of  pottery, 
will  shed  historical  light  on  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
made,  and  on  the  degree  of  intelligence  then  existing;  so,  in 
the  other  science,  a  leaf,  a  shell,  or  a  fragment  of  bone  will 
reveal  what  the  climate  was,  as  well  as  the  other  conditions 
in  which  man  then  lived;  and  both  together  will  contribute 
to  reveal  the  character  of  man  and  the  circumstances  of  his 
home. 

It  is  with  this  period  alone  we  have  to  do  at  present;  but 
although  it  is  the  most  recent,  and  although  its  facts  are  mth- 
in  common  reach,  much  diversity  of  opinion  and  inference  pre- 
-  vails.     Although  agreed  in  claiming  immensity  of  time,  geolo- 
gists are  by  no  means  at  one  regarding  any  definite  period  for 
I  man's  history.      Wallace  is  tolerably  certain  that  man  has 
a  run  a  course  of  a  thousand  centuries,  but  he  does  not  see 
aip.ny  evidence   against   his   having   existed    "  ten   thousand 
arcenturies ; "  ^  and  he  assumes  that  there  was  a  time  "when 
g(  he  had  the  form,  but  hardly  the  nature,  of  man  ;  when  he 
n  neither  possessed  human  speech,  nor  those  sympathetic  and 
1   moral  feelings  which,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  everywhere 
c  now    distinguish  the   race."^      Similar  views  are  held   by 
a  Darwin,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  and  Professor  Huxley.     On  this 
ol  point  their  only  difference,  consists  in  the  duration  of  the 
h;  history  they  assign  to  man.     Professor  Fiihlroth  of  Elberfeld, 
in  his  w^ork  on  the  "  Neanderthal  Fossil  Man,"  tells  us  that 
"  it  reaches  back  to  a  period  of  from  200,000  to  300,000 

1  "Natural  Selection,"  p.  303.     ^ ibid,  pp.  322,  323. 


200  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 

years;"  and  some  enthusiastic  anthropologists  have  put  in 
the  modest  claim  for  man  of  9,000,000  years.  This  amazing 
elasticity  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  scien- 
tific investigation.  The  geological  chronologists  are  evidently 
without  such  definite  data  as  are  indispensable  even  for 
judicious  conjecture.,  and  they  are  exposing  their  own  weak- 
ness, as  guides  of  scientific  thought,  by  such  hap-hazard 
inferences.  Our  hope  is,  that  Natural  Philosophy  will  soon 
correct  the  vagaries  of  Natural  Science,  through  such 
application  of  principles  as  Sir  W.  Thomson  has  already 
indicated.  It  will  most  probably  be  found  that  the  physical 
conditions  of  our  globe  were,  in  those  distant  periods,  un- 
suitable for  man ;  or,  failing  this,  it  may  be  ascertained  that, 
if  so  many  hundred  thousand  years  are  demanded  for  man's 
history, — confessedly  the  latest  in  the  geological  records, — 
there  cannot  be  obtained  suitable  and  sufiiciently  extended 
periods  for  the  life-histories  of  those  creatures  which  pre- 
ceded man  in  successive  formations,  until  we  are  landed  in 
that  time  during  which,  as  Sir  ^V.  Thomson  has  demonstrated, 
no  life  could  have  possibly  existed.  When  it  is  borne  in 
mind  that  these  far-separated  chronological  conclusions  have 
been  deduced  from  precisely  the  same  facts,  he  must  be 
credulous,  indeed,  who  places  any  faith  in  them. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  as  these  conclusions  carry  the 
Antiquity  of  Man  far  beyond  the  Bible  record,  it  becomes  us 
to  examine  carefully  the  facts  on  which  they  rest.  We  have 
done  so,  and  the  history  of  the  inferences  based  upon  them 
by  no  means  increases  our  confidence  in  the  chronological 
guidance  which  has  been  offered  to  us.  AUusion  has  been 
already  made  to  the  nearly  perfect  human  skeletons  which 
were  found  imbedded  in  what  at  first  appeared  to  be  old 
limestone,  on  the  mainland  of  Guadaloupe ;  and  to  the  fact 
that,  after  a  keen  discussion,  and  a  temporary  triumph  on  the 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  201 


side  of  the  opponents  of  the  Bible,  it  was  discovered  that  the 
limestone  was  a  recent  formation,  and  that  the  age  of  the 
skeletoiis  could  not  be  much  more  than  two  hundred  years. 
A  similar  agitation  was  produced  when  the  foot-prints  of 
man  were  discovered  on  limestone,  and  described  in  the 
"American  Journal  of  Science,"  and  a  similar  collapse 
followed  when  Dr.  Dale  Owen  proved  that  they  had  been 
traced  by  an  Indian  tribe. 

Amass  of  conglomerate  rock  was  found  in  1831  at  the 
depth  of  ten  feet  below  the  bed  of  the  River  Don  in  Derby- 
shire ;  and  had  there  been  found  in  that  mass,  as  there 
might  have  been,  portions  of  any  human  skeleton,  and 
nothing  more,  there  would  have  gone  forth  to  all  parts  of  the 
civilised  world  the  conclusion  that  additional  proof  had  been 
obtained  that  man  existed  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
before  the  earliest  possible  date  in  Scripture  chronology; 
but,  very  awkwardly  for  the  advocates  of  a  vast  antiquity, 
the  discovery  of  several  silver  coins  of  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  First,  showed  that  the  conglomerate  rock  was  only  about 
six  hundred  years  old. 

Not  dissimilar   has   been    the   history  of  Mr.    Leonard 
Horner's  famous  discovery  in  the  Nile  deposit.      Having 
been  entrusted  in  1851,  by  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  to 
make  a  series  of  borings  in  the  sediment  of  the  River  Nile, 
1  Mr.  Horner  employed  several  engineers  and  sixty  workmen, 
c  and  did   his   appointed  work  very  efficiently.     Shafts  and 
a  borings  were  made  at  intervals  across  the  valley  from  east 
olto  west ;  and,  in  the  course  of  the  excavations,  they  brought 
h;to  the  surface  jars,  vases,  pots,  a  small  human  figure  in  burnt 
clay,  and  several  pieces  of  burnt  brick,  obtained  at  various 
depths,  but  sometimes  as  low  as  sixty  feet.     Minute  calcula- 
tions of  time  were  instantly  prosecuted.     Assuming  a  certain 
-  thickness  of  mud  deposit  in  a  century,  it  was  announced  that 


202  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 

the  pieces  of  burnt  brick  were  1 2,000  years  old.  Another 
fragment  was  found  at  the  depth  of  seventy-tAvo  feet,  and 
having  been  connected  with  a  somewhat  different  rate  of  cal- 
culation, led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  30,000  years  old. 
So  on  they  went  with  facts  and  inferences,  until  it  was  ascer- 
tained, unfortunately  for  the  theorists,  that  confounding 
witnesses  were  forthcoming.  A  piece  of  pottery,  which  must 
have  been  made,  as  they  asserted,  before  the  historic  period, 
turned  out  to  be  of  Roman  manufacture ;  and  in  the  deepest 
boring  of  all,  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  of  Rameses  II.,  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Grecian  honeysuckle,  marked  on  some  of  those 
mysterious  fragments  which  they  imagined  to  be  prehistoric, 
proved  that  it  could  not  have  been  older  than  the  age  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  When  Sir  R.  Stephenson  was  engineer- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood  of  Damietta,  he  found,  at  a  greater 
depth  than  Mr.  Horner  reached,  a  brick  bearing  on  it  the 
stamp  of  Mohammed  Ali !  ^  The  attempt  to  neutralise  the 
damaging  effects  of  these  facts,  by  showing  that  the  Egyptians 
of  old  did  burn  bricks,  has  been  fruitless ;  and  men  of  his  own 
school  have  become  ashamed  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  some- 
what careful  exposition  of  Mr.  Horner's  "  preposterous  •"' cal- 
culations, and  regret  that  he  "  should  have  thought  it  worth 
while  to  notice  such  absurdities."  It  is,  however,  but  just  to 
Sir  Charles  to  state,  that  while  he  is  careful  in  giving  Mr. 
Horner's  facts,  and  seems  anxious  to  defend  his  inferences, 
he  admits  that  Egyptologists  do  not  consider  liis  experiments 
satisfactory  for  testing  the  age  of  a  given  thickness  of  the  Nile 
sediment.-  The  changes  in  the  River  Nile,  and  the  fuller 
guidar.  knowledge  of  the  action  and  the  varying  rate  of  d'^-^'^sits  ^^ 


en 


already 

were  foi 

,.  1  "London  Quarterly  Review,"  p.  240,  No.  51.     1S66. 

Imieston.  2  <<  Geological  Evidences  for  the  Antiquity  of  Man,"  by  Sir  Charles 

that,  after  veil,  p.  38, 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  203 

t;;;^ges  and  other  great  rivers,  have  turned  the  attention 
of  the  scientific  world  altogether  aside  from  Mr.  Homers 
discoveries,  as  destitute  of  the  least  title  to  respect  or  acknow- 
ledgment These  and  similar  blunders  by  geologists  of  the 
highest  standing,  should  render  us  very  chary  in  accepting 
any  of  those  generalisations  which  do  not  rest  on  a  ^^ade 

induction  of  facts.  .    ,  •    j- 

With  the  precautions  which  the  history  of  this  discussion 
has  already  suggested,  we  should  not  be  deemed  unnecessan  y 
suspicious  if  we  prefer  waiting  for  fuller  information  before 
accepting  facts  and  inferences,  even  when  both  appear  to  be 
worthy  of  an  undisputed  place  in  our  investigations.  Although 
we  may  be  unable  to  explain  some  facts  which  seem  to  con- 
tradict or  neutralise  others,  it  is  our  duty  to  reject  none,  but 
to  retain  them,  in  the  hope  that  their  mutual  relations  may, 
in  due  time,  be  clearly  estabhshed.      As  it  is,  of  course, 
inadmissible,  in  a  discussion  of  this  kind,  to  ignore  a  smgle 
well-authenticated  fact,  because  it  may  constitute  the  one 
link  needed  to   give  completeness   to  the   evidence,  it  is 
necessary  to  sift,  one  by  one,  the  whole  series  on  which 
.         conclusions  may  rest  regarding  the  Antiquity  of  Man. 
f^'        For  the  sake  of  distinctness,  it  may  be  better  to  group  the 
y^"^"   evidence    for  man's    antiquity  under   the   three   following 

V"^',  divisions :—  ^     •,    .  .     • 

^^       (i)  Tht  discovery  of  human  remains  in  a  fossil  state,  m 

strata,  or  deposits,  and  caves.' 
""j       (2)  The  discovery  of  flints  and  stone  implements  in  connection 
1     with  remains  of  extinct  animals.     And, 
da^'3)   '^^''  existence  of  villages  built  on  piles,  in  Switzerland 

""'^sewhere. 
•^"''i  _i    "The  fossil  man  of  Denise,"  found  in  a  volcanic 
breccia,  near  the  town  of  De  Puy-en-Velay,  in  Central  France, 
r      "     attracted,  as  in  similar  instances,  the  earnest  attention  of 


^ 


204  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XI. 


geologists ;  but  great  doubt  exists  as  to  the  genuineness  of 
the  skeleton.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  half  admits  the  likelihood 
that  imposition  may  have  been  practised  on  the  scientific 
observers  in  that  district,  and  does  not  deny  the  probability 
that  certain  slabs  of  tuff  which  contained  human  remains 
were  tampered  with.  "Whether  some  of  these  were  spurious 
or  not,"  he  says,  "is  a  question  more  difficult  to  decide. 
One  of  them,  now  in  the  possession  of  M.  Pichot-Dumazel, 
an  advocate  of  Le  Puy,  is  suspected  of  having  had  some 
plaster  of  Paris  introduced  into  it  to  bind  the  bones  more 
firmly  together  in  the  loose  volcanic  tuff."  ^  Sir  Charles 
went  in  1859  to  Le  Puy,  to  enquire  into  the  authenticity  of 
the  bones  and  into  their  geological  age;  and  he  employed  a 
labourer  to  make  some  fresh  excavations,  "  in  the  hope  of 
verifying  the  true  position  of  the  fossils;  but  all  of  this  7vit/ioiit 
success."  He  failed  even  to  find  ///  situ  any  exact  counter- 
part of  the  stone  of  the  Le  Puy  Museum.  But  apart  from 
this  side  of  the  question,  M.  Felix  Robert  has  decided  that 
the  tuff  is  "a  product  of  the  latest  eruption  of  the  volcano;"  - 
and  M.  Pichot  is  "  satisfied  that  the  fossil  bones  belonged 
to  the  period  of  the  last  volcanic  eruptions  ofVelay."'* 

2.  The  fossil  human  bone  of  Natchez,  on  the  Mississippi, 
has  been  adduced  as  proving  an  antiquity  of  at  least  a 
hundred  thousand  years,  but  scarcely  can  any  evidence  be 
more  precarious.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  himself  does  not  insist 
on  the  facts  as  in  any  degree  constituting  reliable  proof,  but 
has  suggested,  as  a  possible  explanation  of  the  association 
of  the  human  bone  with  the  remains  of  extinct  animals,  that 
the  former  may  possibly  have  been  deri\ed  from  the  vegetable 
soil  at  the  top  of  the  cliff;  whereas  the  latter  may  have  been 
dislodged  from  a  lower  position,  and  both  may  have  fallen 


1  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  196.      « Ibid,  p.  167.      *  Ibid,  p.  195. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  205 

into  the  same  heap  at  the  bottom  of  the  ravine.  The  black 
colour  of  the  human  bone  may  have  been  acquired  by  its 
having  lain  for  centuries  in  the  dark  superficial  soil  common 
in  these  regions,  a  supposition  fully  borne  out  by  the  fact 
tliat  many  human  bones  in  old  Indian  graves,  in  the  same 
district,  have  been  stained  of  as  black  a  dye.  Sir  Charles 
in  part  apologises  for  introducing  this  theory,  and  adds,  "but 
so  long  as  we  have  only  one  isolated  case,  and  are  without 
the  testimony  of  a  geologist  who  was  present  to  behold  the 
bone  when  still  engaged  in  the  matrix,  and  to  extract  it  \vith 
his  own  hands,  it  is  allowable  to  suspend  our  judgment  as  to 
the  high  antiquity  of  the  fossil."'  ^ 

We  should  rather  say  that  it  is  not  "  allotualle'"  to  intro- 
duce such  a  case  as  in  any  shape  calculated  to  shed  light  on 
this  subject.     It  proves  nothing,  it  confirms  nothing. 

3.  A  human  skeleton,  found  at  a  considerable  depth 
near  New  Orleans,  has  been  employed  with  a  greater  air  of 
triumph  than  is  usual,  even  with  the  eager  advocates  of  a 
high  antiquity  for  man.  Sir  Charles  attaches  considerable 
'^^c-iportance  to  this  discovery,  in  connection  with  his  estimate 
^\ve  the  time  during  which  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi  has 
j^tx/in  formed.  The  area  is  30,000  square  miles ;  the  sedi- 
hjuitary  matter  has  reached  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet; 
and  he  approximates  a  minimum  of  time  for  this  deposit  by 
ascertaining,  experimentally,  the  annual  discharge  of  water 
by  the  river,  and  the  mean  annual  amount  of  solid  matter 
in  its  waters.  "  The  lowest  estimate  of  the  time  required 
would  lead  us  to  assign  a  high  antiquity,  amounting  to  many 
tens  of  thousands  of  years  (probably  more  than  an  100,000) 
to  the  existing  delta.'"'  In  one  part  of  this  delta,  when 
carrying  a  large  excavation  through  a  succession  of  beds 

^  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  202,  203. 


2o6  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XI. 


made  up  chiefly  of  vegetable  matter,  the  workmen  passed 
"  four  buried  forests  superimposed  one  upon  the  other ; " 
and  at  the  deptli  of  sixteen  feet,  they  "  found  some  charcoal 
and  a  human  skeleton."  By  making  certain  assumptions  as 
to  the  age  of  the  successive  forests,  Dr.  Dowler  has  assigned 
to  the  skeleton  an  antiquity  of  50,000  years  ! 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  four  superimposed  forests  are 
comprised  within  sixteen  feet, — in  itself  a  very  improbable 
circumstance, — and  it  may  be  added,  that  Sir  Charles  has 
evidently  misgivings  as  to  the  calculations  of  Dr.  Dowler, 
for  he  is  careful  to  state  that,  as  the  discovery  in  question 
had  not  been  made  when  he  saw  the  excavation  in  progress 
at  the  Gas  Works,  in  1846,  he  "cannot  form  an  opinion  as 
to  the  value  of  the  chronological  calculations  which  have 
led  Dr.  Dowler  to  ascribe  to  this  skeleton  an  antiquity  of 
50,000  years."  1  The  estimate  of  time  by  Dr.  Dowler  is  one 
of  those  random  guesses  which  are  becoming  almost  in- 
tolerably frequent  in  professedly  scientific  investigations. 
Sir  Charles  himself  has  given  an  entirely  different  estimate 
of  the  required  time,  when,  in  his  work,  "  Second  Visit  to 
the  United  States,"  he  quotes  a  writer  in  "SilHman's  Journal" 
regarding  the  growth  of  the  cypress  swamp  : — "  Sections  of 
such  filled-up  cypress  basins,  exposed  by  the  changes  in  the 
position  of  the  river,  exhibit  undisturbed,  perfect,  and  erect 
stumps,  in  a  scries  of  every  elevation  with  respect  to  each 
other,  extending  from  high-water  mark  do^vn  to  at  least 
twenty-five  feet  below,  measuring  out  a  time  when  not  less 
than  ten  fiiUy-matitred  cypress  gro7i>t/is  must  have  succeeded 
each  other,  the  average  of  whose  age  could  not  have  been 
less  than  four  hundred  years,— thus  making  an  aggregate  of 
4000  years  since  the  first  cypress  tree  vegetated  in  the  basin. 

^  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  43,  44. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  207 


There  are  also  instances  where  prostrate  trunks,  of  huge 
dimensions,  are  found  imbedded  in  the  day,  immediately 
over  which  are  erect  stumps  of  trees,  numbering  no  less  than 
800  concentric  layers."  ^  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the 
skeleton  for  which  Dr.  Dowler  claimed  a  history  of  50,000 
years,  was  discovered  under  four  of  these  long  "  buried 
forests"  or  "cypress  growths;"  and  that,  as  the  wTiter  in 
"Silliman's  Journal"  assigns  to  each  a  minimum  of  four 
hundred  years,  the  antiquity  of  the  skeleton  might  not^be 
more  than  sixteen  hundred  years,  even  when  admitting  that 
the  fact  has  been  accurately  stated.  But  is  it  not  as 
probable  that  the  human  body  may  have  sunk  through  the 
soft  mud  in  a  section  of  the  swamp,  or  that  some  surface 
layer  overlying  a  narrow  opening,  and  yielding,  may  have 
allowed  the  skeleton  to  fall,  within  the  last  few  hundred 
years,  to  the  place  in  which  it  was  found  ? 

Sir  Charles  Lyell's  estimate  of  the  time  during  which 
the  present  delta  of  the  Mississippi  has  been  in  existence, 
is  altogether  unsatisfactory ;  and  his  demand  for  more  than 
100,000  years  has  not  been  honoured  by  those  who  have 
given  special  attention  to  this  subject,  and  who  have  placed 
together  such  data  as  warrant  the  inference  that  no  more 
than  4000  years  has  been  required  for  the  formation  of  the 
delta  from,  at  least,  a  hundred  miles  above  New  Orleans.  2 
The  movements  of  rivers  are  so  unsteady,  and  the  rate  of 
deposit  so  varied,  that  no  claim  as  to  man's  antiquity  can 
safely  be  made  to  depend  on  them.  The  experience  of 
"An  Old  Indigo  Planter,"  as  given  in  the  "Athenceum,"  is 
significant : — "  Having  lived  many  years  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ganges,"  he  says,  "  I  have  seen  the  stream  encroach  on  a 


1  "Silliman's  Journal,"  Second  Series,  vol.  V.,  p.  17.     January,  1848. 
■  "What  is  Trntli?"  by  R^v.  E.  Burgess,  pp.  298,  299. 


208  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 

village,  undermining  the  bank  where  it  stood,  and  deposit, 
as  a  natural  result,  bricks,  pottery,  &c.,  in  the  bottom  of  the 
stream.  On  one  occasion,  I  am  certain  that  the  depth  of 
the  stream,  where  the  bank  was  breaking,  was  aboi'C  forty 
fed;  yet,  in  three  years,  the  current  of  the  river  drifted  so 
much,  that  a  fresh  deposit  of  soil  took  place  over  the  debris 
of  the  village,  and  the  earth  was  raised  to  a  level  with  the 
old  bank.  Now,  had  our  traveller  obtained  a  bit  of 
pottery  from  where  it  had  lain  for  only  three  years.,  could  he 
reasonably  draw  the  inference  that  it  had  been  made  13,000 
years  before  ?  '"  ^ 

Dr.  Page  justly  sneers  at  the  attempt  to  chronologize 
through  the  facts  by  which  some  have  elaborated  con- 
clusions, and  tells  us  truly  that  we  have  yet  no  means  of 
estimating  aright  geological  time,  and  no  power  to  give  it 
expression  in  years  and  centuries  : — "  Many  ingenious  cal- 
culations," he  says,  "have  no  doubt  been  made  to  ap- 
proximate the  dates  of  certain  geological  events ;  but  these, 
it  must  be  confessed,  are  more  amusing  than  instnictive. 
For  example,  so  many  lines  of  mud  are  annually  laid  down 
by  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  fragments  of  pottery  have 
been  found  at  the  depth  of  thirty  feet ; — how  many  years 
since  the  potter)'  was  first  imbedded  ?  Again,  the  ledges  of 
Niagara  are  wasting  at  the  rate  of  so  many  feet  per 
century ; — how  many  years  must  the  river  have  taken  to  cut 
its  way  back  from  Queensto\m  to  the  present  Falls  ?  .  .  . 
For  these  and  similar  computations,  it  will  be  at  once  per- 
ceived that  we  want  the  necessary  uniformity  of  factor ;  and 
until  we  can  bring  elements  of  calculation  as  exact  as  those 
of  astronomy  to  bear  on  geological  chronology,  it  will  be 
better   to   regard   our   '  eras,'   and  '  epochs,'  and  '  cycles,' 

>  Sec  "The  Truth  of  the  Bible,"  by  the  Rev.  B.  W.  Savile,  p.  116. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLE.VDING   LIGHTS. 


209 


as  so  many  tenns  indefinite  in  their  duration,  but  sufficient 
for  the  magnitude  of  the  operations  embraced  within  their 
hmit."  1  This  admission,  by  such  a  geologist  as  Dr.  Page, 
sufficiently  vindicates  the  umviUingness  of  Bible  students  to 
accept,  as  correct,  the  inferences  as  to  time  which  many  are 
pressing  upon  them. 

4.  Much  interest  has  from  time  to  time  been  awakened 
by  the  discovery  of  human  bones  in  caves;  and  attempts  have 
been  eagerly  made  to  prove  an  extravagant  antiquity  for 
man  from   their  position  and   their  connection  with  other 
bones.      Details  have  been  published  regarding  the  caves 
and  fissures  in  England,  in  France,  in  Germany,  in  Hungary, 
m  Canada,  and  elsewhere ;    but  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss 
them  here  separately,  as  there  is  remarkable  similarity  in  the 
facts,  as  well  as  in  the  conclusions  to  which  they  have  led. 
Those  that  are  typical  may  sufficiently  indicate  the  amount 
and  kind  of  evidence  which  have  been  brought  forward,  and 
within  what  limits  the  discussion  should  be  conducted. 

At  Hoxne,  in  Suffolk,  in  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
and  later,  not  only  in  the  caves  of  Gower,  in  Glamorganshire' 
but  in  various  other  localities  in  England,  flint  implements 
have  been  found  so  associated  with  the  bones  of  extinct 
anunals,  that  a  long  chronology  would  be  required  to  reach 
their  origin.     In  the  Bize  cavern,  in  the  department  of  the 
Aude,  human  bones,  with  fragments  of  rude  potterj^,  were 
mingled  with    land-shells   of  living    species,  and  with  the 
bones   of  extinct  animals.      Similar  researches  brought   to 
hght  similar  facts  in  the  cavern  of  Pondres,  near  Nismes ; 
but  of  these  results  no  less  an  authority  than  M.  Desnoyers 
has  said,— -The   flint  hatchets  and   arrow-heads,  and  the 
pointed   bones   and   coarse   pottery  of  many  French   and 

^  "The  Past  and  Present  Life  .of  the  Globe,"  p.  220. 
P 


210  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XI. 

English  caves,  agree  precisely  in  character  with  those  found 
in  the  tumuli,  and  under  the  dolviens  (rude  altars  of  unheN\Ti 
stone)  of  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  Gaul,  Britain,  and 
Germany.  The  human  bones,  therefore,  in  the  caves, 
which  are  associated  with  such  fabricated  objects,  must 
belong,  not  to  antediluvian  periods,  but  to  a  people  in  the 
same  stage  of  civilisation  as  those  who  constructed  the 
tumuli  and  altars."^  Sir  Charles  himself,  after  visiting 
several  caves  in  Germany,  and  after  weighing  the  arguments 
of  both  M.  Desnoyers  and  Dr.  Buckland,  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  human  bones  mixed  with  those  of 
extinct  animals  in  cavern-mud,  in  different  parts  of  Europe, 
"were  probably  not  coeval.  The  caverns  having  been  at 
one  period  the  dens  of  wild  beasts,  and  having  served  at 
other  times  as  places  of  human  habitation,  worship, 
sepulture,  concealment,  or  defence,  one  might  easily  con- 
ceive that  the  bones  of  man  and  those  of  animals,  which 
were  strewed  over  the  floors  of  subterranean  cavities,  or 
which  had  fallen  into  tortuous  rents  connecting  them  with  the 
surface,  might,  when  swept  away  by  floods,  be  mingled  in  one 
promiscuous  heap  in  the  same  ossiferous  mud  or  breccia."  - 

Dr.  Schmerling  of  Liege,  with  rare  enthusiasm,  examined 
more  than  forty  caverns  in  his  neighbourhood,  and  made 
some  very  remarkable  discoveries  ;  yet  they  bear  no  direct 
evidence  for  a  distant  antiquity.  Sir  Charles  adopts  Dr. 
Schmerling's  doctrine,  "  that  most  of  the  materials,  organic 
or  inorganic,  now  filling  the  caverns,  have  been  washed  into 
them  through  narrow,  vertical,  or  oblique  fissures,  the  upper 
extremities  of  which  are  choked  up  v\dth  soil  and  gravel."  ^ 

^Vhat  has  become  of  chief  interest  in  Dr.  Schmerling's 


^  Quoted  by  Sir  C.  Lyell  in  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  6i 
^  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  62.         ^  Ibid,  p.  70. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


211 


investigations,  is  his  finding  in  the  Engis  cave  the  remains 
of  three  human  beings,  and,  among  them,  that  skull  which, 
in  contrast  with  the  Neanderthal  skull,  found  in  1857,  has 
excited  so  much  keen  debate. 

The  discussion,  though  not  lying  very  properly  \vithin 
this  part  of  our  subject,  may  be  noticed  in  passing. 

The  Engis  skull  was  unequivocally  so  much  older  than 
the  Neanderthal,  judging  from  the  position  in  which  it  was 
found,  that,  if  there  had  been  truth  in  the  theories  regarding 
the  gradual  development  of  the  race,  it  should  have'^been 
greatly  less  in  its  intellectual  promise  than  the  other ;  and 
yet,  to  the  utter  confusion  of  all  theorists,  it  approached 
very  near  to  the  highest  or  Caucasian  type ;  while  of  the 
other.  Professor  Huxley  has  admitted  that  ''  it  is  the  most 
brutal  of  all  known  human  skulls."  ^ 

Baffled  by  the  contradiction  which  these  two  skulls  gave, 
not  only  to  the  theory  of  "  periods,"  but  to  the  theory  of 
physical  and  intellectual  evolution,  theorists  take  refuge  in 
the  declaration  that  the  first  traces  of  the  primordial  stock 
whence  man  has  proceeded  must  be  looked  for  in  far  older 
formations  than  those  hitherto  examined.     The  Neanderthal 
skull  has  come  forth  as  a  resolute  witness  against  the  doctrine 
of  the  progressive  development  of  the  cranium,  and  has  given 
a  decided  check  to  hasty  speculation.     Sir  Charles  Lyell 
admits  that  these  two  skulls  have  created  very  great  surprise ; 
because  the  one,  which  by  common  consent  is  so  old,  is,' 
notwithstanding,  of  the  highest  or  Caucasian  type ;  and  'the 
other,  which  is  admitted  to  be  without  any  claims  to  antiquity, 
has  departed  so  far  from  the  nonnal  standard  of  humanity,' 
that  it  will  not  piece  into  the  development  theory.     But  if 
this  skull,  which  is  low  in  size  and  conformation,  had  been 

1  See  Professor  Huxley's  Paper  in  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  80,  89. 


212  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XI. 

found  in  the  position  of  the  other,  and  the  other  had 
chanced  to  occupy  its  place,  the  reasoning  on  behalf  of  this 
theory  would  have  been  intolerant,  and  doubters  would  have 
been  unsparingly  denounced  as  bigots. 

Of  other  instances  given,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  notice 
only  one.  At  Aurignac,  in  the  south  of  France,  an  opening 
into  a  cave  was  accidentally  discovered  in  1852,  and  in  it 
were  found  seventeen  human  skeletons,  which  were  speedily 
removed  and  buried  in  the  neighbouring  cemeter)'.  About 
eight  years  aftenvards,  M.  Lartet  examined  the  cave-remains; 
and  although  he  failed  to  obtain  any  satisfactory  information 
regarding  the  human  skeletons,  he  assigned  to  them  a  remote 
antiquity,  along  with  the  implements  and  other  bones  which 
he  obtained.  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  however,  does  not  think  that 
the  facts  which  M.  Lartet  has  stated  add  anything  to  the 
evidence  in  favour  of  man's  antiquity.  ^ 

The  conclusion  of  Dr.  Page,  in  reference  to  all  these 
cave-finds,  is  confirmatory  of  the  views  which  we  have 
expressed  regarding  the  uncertainty  or  unreliableness  of  the 
reasoning  by  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  carry  the 
antiquity  of  man  into  immeasurably  distant  periods.  After 
taking  into  consideration  the  facts  which  have  been  stated 
in  relation  to  the  formation  and  age  of  peat-mosses,  and  to 
remains  in  cave-earth,  he  is  not  sure  whether  the  older 
bones  of  the  extinct  animals  "  may  not  have  been  washed 
up,  drifted,  and  reassorted  from  earlier  deposits."  That 
very  possibility  gives  an  insecure  footing  to  those  who  would 
establish  inferences  on  such  data.  The  human  skeletons 
which  have  been  found  in  caverns  he  regards  as  being  but 
of  yesterday,  when  geologically  estimated,  and  "  dating  back, 
at  the  utmost,  but  a  few  thousand  years."  - 

^  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  189. 
8  "Geology,  Advanced  Text-Book,"  p.  382. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  213 

This  conclusion  is  all  the  more  satisfactory,  as  given  by 
one  of  the  most  independent  and  cautious  of  geologists,  and 
should  encourage  Bible  students  to  cherish  a  deeper  con- 
fidence in  the  principles  which  Jmany  are  assailing. 

II.  The  evidence  of  antiquity,  dependent  on  the  connection 
of  Flint  Arrow-Heads  and  other  stone  implements  with 
the  remains  of  extinct  animals,  and  which  is  closely  related 
to  that  of  the  human  skeletons  whose  history  we  have  been 
examining,  has  of  late  been  very  constantly  pressed  into 
service  by  avowed  opponents  of  the  Bible. 

As  intimately  connected  A\ith  the  discovery  of  human 
skeletons  in  the  position  referred  to,  we  may  here  notice  the 
finding  of  human  relics  in  Danish  peat,  in  the  valley  of 
Somme,  and  in  various  caves. 

The  Danish  peat  has  a  chronological  history  assigned  to 
it,  dependent — first,  on  its  rate  of  growth ; — and  second,  on 
the  trees  which  have  successively  lived  in  the  course  of  its 
formation.  In  the  lowest,  and  therefore  oldest  stratum  of 
the  peat,  the  Scotch  fir,  which  is  not  now  a  native  of  the 
Danish  islands,  flourished  and  disappeared  long  ago.  On  a 
higher  level,  and  in  a  subsequent  period,  the  oak  succeeded 
the  Scotch  fir ;  and  "  after  flourishing  for  ages,"  was  in  turn 
displaced  by  the  beech.  ^  Danish  naturalists  and  anti- 
quarians have  connected  ^vith  these  trees,  respectively,  the 
stone,  bronze,  and  iron  periods.  In  the  oldest  formation, 
deep  in  the  peat,  and  under  the  tnuik  of  a  pine  tree, 
Steenstrup  found  a  flint  instrument;  and  on  these  facts, 
calculations  have  been  made  by  which  some  geologists 
have  determined  the  antiquity  of  man. 

"What  may  be  the  antiquity,"  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  "of 
the  earliest  human  remains  preserved  in  the  Danish  peat, 


1  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  by  Sir. Charles  Lyell,  p.  9  and  p.  372. 


214  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 

cannot  be  estimated  in  centuries  with  any  approach  to 
accuracy.  In  the  first  place,  in  going  back  to  the  bronze 
age,  we  already  find  ourselves  beyond  the  reach  of  history, 
or  even  of  tradition.  In  the  time  of  tlic  Romans,  the 
Danish  isles  were  covered,  as  now,  with  magnificent  beech 
forests.  Nowhere  in  the  world  does  this  tree  flourish  more 
luxuriantly  than  in  Denmark,  and  eighteen  centuries  seem 
to  have  done  little  or  nothing  towards  modifying  the 
character  of  the  forest  vegetation.  Yet,  in  the  antecedent 
bronze  period,  there  were  no  beech  trees,  or,  at  most,  but  a 
few  stragglers, — the  country  being  covered  with  oak.  In 
the  age  of  stone,  again,  the  Scotch  fir  prevailed,  and  already 
there  were  human  inhabitants  in  those  old  pine  forests. 
How  many  generations  of  each  species  of  tree  flourished  in 
succession  before  the  pine  was  supplanted  by  the  oak,  and 
the  oak  by  the  beech,  can  be  but  vaguely  conjectured;  but 
the  minimum  of  time  required  for  the  formation  of  so  much 
peat,  must,  according  to  the  estimate  of  Steenstrup,  and 
other  good  authorities,  have  amounted  to  at  least  4000 
years :  and  there  is  nothing  in  the  observed  rate  of  growth 
of  peat  opposed  to  the  conclusion  that  the  number  of 
centuries  may  not  have  been  four  times  as  great,  even 
though  the  signs  of  man's  existence  have  not  yet  been 
traced  down  to  the  lowest  or  amorphous  stratimi."  ^ 

This  calculation  as  to  time  must  be  ^■ery  uncertain, 
because  we  as  yet  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  physical 
conditions  under  which  the  moss,  during  its  difterent  stages, 
was  deepened.  Mosses  are  formed  with  comparative  rapidity 
in  moist  and  cold  districts,  through  fallen  trees  and  the 
stagnation  of  water  giving  rise  to  marshiness.  Although 
in  a  warm  climate  decayed  timber  would  immediately  be 

^  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  i6,  17. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  215 

removed  by  insects  or  by  putrefaction,  in  the  cold  temper- 
ature now  prevailing  in  our  latitude,  many  examples  are 
recorded  of  marshes  originating  in  this  source;  and  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  admits  that  in  Mar  forest,  in  Aberdeenshire, 
large  trunks  of  Scotch  fir,  which  had  fallen  from  age  and 
decay,  loere  soon  immured  in  peat >  And  he  distinctly  states 
that  the  overthrow  of  a  forest  by  a  storm,  about  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  gave  rise  to  a  peat-moss  near 
Loch  Broom,  in  Ross-shire,  where,  in  less  than  half  a  centtiry 
after  the  fall  of  the  trees,  the  inhabitants  dug  peat.  -  He 
admits,  further,  that  such  events  were  by  no  means  uncom- 
mon in  either  Britain  or  the  Continent ;  and  the  obvious 
and  natural  question  suggested  is,  May  not  many  storms 
have  produced  similar  changes  in  the  Scotch  fir  and  oak 
forests  in  the  Danish  islands,  so  that  the  growth  of  moss 
may  have  been  rapid  as  it  was  in  Ross-shire,  and  in  other 
localities  in  Scotland  and  Wales  about  which  reliable  in- 
formation has  been  obtained  ? 

Among  other  interesting  instances  of  the  growth  of  moss, 
may  be  mentioned  those  of  Hatfield  in  Yorkshire,  and 
Kincardine  in  Scotland.  In  Hatfield  moss,  which  was 
evidently  a  forest  eighteen  centuries  ago,  fir  trees  have  been 
found  ninety  feet  long,  and  oaks  one  hundred  feet ;  but  at 
the  bottom  of  the  mosses,  strange  to  say,  Roman  roads 
have  been  discovered,  showing  that  the  mosses  have  grown 
since  the  Roman  invasion.  "All  the  coins,  axes,  arms, 
and  other  utensils  found  in  British  and  French  mosses,  are 
also  Roman,— so  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  peat  in 
European  peat-bogs  is  evidently  not  more  than  the  age  of 
Julius  Csesar.  Nor  can  any  vestiges  of  the  ancient  forests 
described  by  that  General  along  the  great  Roman  way  in 

1  Lyell's  "  Principles  of  Geology,"  p.  720.     ■  Ibid,  p.  721, 


2i6  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XI. 

Britain  be  discovered,  except  in  the  ruined  tnmks  of  trees 
in  peat."  ^  When  we  take  these  and  similar  instances  into 
account,  we  are  justified  in  regarding  as  altogether  visionary 
those  calculations  in  which  M.  Perthes  and  others  have 
indulged,  when  they  have  speculated  regarding  time,  and 
have  claimed  tens  of  thousands  of  years  for  the  formation  of  a 
moss  only  thirty  feet  in  thickness.  In  an  interesting  little 
work  by  the  Rev.  J.  Brodie,-  there  is  reference  to  the  Roman 
road  in  Scotland  as  covered  by  eight  feet  of  moss,  and  as 
laid  bare  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  :  and  he  supposes  that  this 
road  could  not  have  been  made  before  the  year  of  our  Lord 
200,  that  being  the  date  at  which  the  Roman  conquests 
were  pushed  farthest  into  Britain ;  and,  assuming  the  rate  of 
growth  in  the  peat  to  have  been  uniform  from  that  time, 
Mr.  Brodie  infers  that  there  would  be  six  inches  of  increase 
in  a  century, — not  an  inch  and  fifth,  as  M.  de  Perthes 
has  calculated. 

The  uncertainty  of  those  causes  which  determine  the 
age  of  peat  mosses,  is  made  still  more  apparent  by  com- 
paring the  facts  in  Europe  with  those  of  America.  To 
the  authority  of  Professor  C.  Hitchcock  few  will  hesitate  to 
submit ;  and  his  conclusion  is,  that  "  the  growth  of  peat  is 
extremely  variable,  even  in  contiguous  swamps.  It  accumulates 
much  more  rapidly  in  the  primitive  forest  than  after  clearings 
have  been  effected,  chiefly,  perhaps,  because  in  a  wooded 
country  rain  is  more  common,  as  any-one  who  has  travelled 
in  a  wild  northern  region  cannot  have  failed  to  notice." 
Comparing  the  rate  of  growth  where  the  country  has  been 
to  a  large  extent  cleared,  with  the  rate  of  growth  where 
there  has  been  no  such  clearance,  the  Professor  has  come  to 

^  Lycll's  "  Principles  of  Geology,"  p.  721. 

-  "The  Antiquity  and  xS'ature  of  Man,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  Brodie, 
M.A.,  pp.  49,  50. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  217 

definite  conclusions  as  to  the  variableness  of  the  growth. 
Supposing  that  the  original  Danish  forest  of  Scotch  fir  may 
have  been  destroyed  by  fire  in  a  single  season,  as  often 
happens  in  North  America,  he  aftirms  that  the  blackened 
trunks  would  be  replaced  by  the  "  second  growth,"  con- 
sisting in  America  of  the  birch,  poplar,  and  similar  trees, 
and  that  in  two  or  three  centuries  the  new  forest  would  be 
thoroughly  established.  In  Denmark,  while  the  second 
forest  was  of  oak,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  third,  consisting 
of  beech  trees,  he  does  not  admit  that  the  whole  forest 
would  have  been  exclusively  made  up  of  any  one  of  the 
three, — firs,  oaks,  or  beeches  :  "  Our  primitive  forests  com- 
monly contain  a  'mixed  growth,' — it  is  generally  very 
limited  valleys  or  hill-tops  that  are  covered  by  only  one 
kind  of  tree ;  pine,  spruce,  juniper,  and  maple,  are  inter- 
mixed in  equal  proportions  in  some  regions,  while  oak, 
hickory,  and  chestnut  predominate  elsewhere.  Observation 
would  therefore  indicate  the  probability  of  a  mixed  growth 
in  the  stone  and  bronze  as  well  as  in  the  iron  age.  For 
this  reason,  we  must  leave  a  margin  in  our  calculations  of 
time  from  the  succession  of  forests, — certain  districts  having 
the  oaks  predominating  longer  than  others,  may  have  been 
those  taken  for  calculating.  Estimating  from  these  new 
standpoints,  we  may  say  that  the  minimum  required  to  pro- 
duce the  changes  observed  in  the  Danish  forests,  may  be  two 
thousand  years."  ^ 

Other  elements,  necessarily  entering  into  the  probabilities 
of  the  question  of  time,  increase  the  difficulties  of  cal- 
culation. Trees  growing  on  the  edges  of  the  moss  fall  over 
on  its  surface,  and  are  in  turn  covered  over;  slips  which 


^  Quoted  by  Professor  Duns,  in  "Science  and  Christian  Thought," 
246. 


il8  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XI. 


are  not  uncommon  might  carry  difterent  trees  into  the  moss, 
and  rains  faUing,  or  water  oozing  into  the  edges  or  the 
centre  of  the  moss,  might  give  it  a  fluidity  not  at  all  un- 
common, which  might  admit  of  flint  or  other  implements 
gradually  sinking  to  a  considerable  depth.  It  appears 
preposterous  to  found  any  conclusion  as  to  time  on  the 
fact  of  implements  being  discovered  at  any  depth  in  moss. 
If  traces  of  man's  presence  in  a  definite  form, — as  the 
Roman  roads  at  the  depth  of  eight  feet  in  the  Hatfield 
moss, — or  if  evidences  of  human  action  on  any  of  the  sunken 
trees  were  adduced,  there  would  be  greater  plausibiUty  in 
the  arguments  by  which  their  conclusions  are  vindicated. 

Sir  Charles  Lyell  himself,  after  reviewing  the  calculations  in 
which  "archceologists  and  geologists  of  merit  have  indulged, 
in  the  hope  of  arriving  at  some  positive  dates,"  has  given, 
as  his  conclusion,  that  they  are  only  "  tentative," — in  short, 
only  "a  rough  approximation  of  the  truth."  Although 
4000  and  7000  years  before  our  time  have  been  assigned 
for  the  history  of  certain  events  and  monuments,  he  candidly 
admits  "  that  much  collateral  evidence  will  be  required  to 
confirm  these  estimates,  and  to  decide  whether  the  number 
of  centuries  has  been  under  or  over-rated."  ^ 

2.  Another  prominent  instance  of  flint  implements  made 
by  man,  and  on  which,  in  reasoning,  mucli  stress  has  been 
laid,  has  been  adduced  from  the  valley  of  the  Somme,  in 
Picardy,  France.  Referring  to  geological  treatises  for  a 
minute  description  of  the  valley,  we  shall  limit  our  state- 
ment to  such  details  as  are  required  for  forming  a  fair 
estimate  of  the  argument.  The  chalk  formation  originally 
occupied  the  whole  district ;  but,  by  degrees,  a  stream  began 
to  flow  across  this  chalky  region,  and  a  valley  was  formed, 

1  "  Autk|uity  of  Man,"  p.  373. 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  219 

which,  in  the  bottom,  has  an  average  width  of  a  mile.  In 
the  lowest  part  of  the  valley  is  a  bed  of  gravel,  from  three  to 
fourteen  feet  thick ;  and  on  this,  separated  by  a  thin  layer 
of  clay,  there  is  a  growth  of  peat  from  ten  to  thirty  feet  in 
depth,  through  which  the  river  is  flowing.  On  the  sides  of 
the  valley  are  beds  of  gravel  resembling  ancient  river  banks, 
the  lower  of  which  is  close  on  the  peat,  while  the  upper  is 
from  eighty  to  a  hundred  feet  higher.  It  is  in  these  gravel 
beds  that,  mingled  \vith  bones  of  animals  now  extinct, 
various  tools  of  flint,  spear-heads,  &c.,  have  been  found. 
Two  arguments  for  the  antiquity  of  the  race  have  been  based 
on  the  fact  of  the  remains  which  have  been  associated 
together.  The  first  is,  that  the  men  who  used  the  flint 
instruments  lived  with  races  of  animals  long  extinct ;  and 
the  second  is,  that  a  long  period  was  required  for  the 
geological  changes  which  have  subsequently  taken  place. 

But  the  mere  fact  that  man  was  contemporaneous  with 
animals  now  extinct,  can  prove  nothing  in  reference  to  his 
antiquity.  The  animals  may  have  been  lingering  through  a 
gradual  extinction  to  his  day,  or  man  may  have  begim  to 
exist  when  their  race  was  vigorous.  A  writer  in  the  "West- 
minster Review,"  who  strongly  pleads  for  man's  remote 
antiquity,  has  frankly  admitted  that  the  argument  from  coin- 
cidence of  remains  goes  for  nothing — "  Since  many  species 
of  animals,  whose  first  introduction  dates  much  further  back 
in  geological  time,  are  at  present  contemporaneous  with  man ; 
and  carcasses  once  frozen  up  might  be  preserved  for 
thousands  of  years  as  well  as  for  hundreds,  for  millions  as 
well  as  for  thousands."^  The  late  Professor  Rogers,  writing 
in  "  Blackwood's  Magazine,"  reasoned  powerfully  to  the 
same  effect, — that  geologists  too  hastily  gave  to  the  Diluvium 

1  "  Westminster  Review,"  April,  1863. 


2  20  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 

a  remote  antiquity ;  that  its  relation  to  historic  time  is  not 
ascertainable;  and  that  it  is  every  whit  as  natural  and  as 
logical  to  infer  the  relative  recency  of  these  now  extinct 
animals  because  the  works  of  man  are  found  with  them,  as 
it  is  to  infer  the  antiquity  of  man  from  the  assumed  greater 
age  of  these  animals.  He  insists  that  a  specially  remote  age 
is  not  necessarily  attributable  to  the  flint-shaping  men  of  the 
Diluvium  because  of  their  living  at  the  same  time  Avith  the 
mammoth,  and  that,  if  their  association  is  to  be  held  proving 
along  prehistoric  antiquity, other  evidences  must  be  obtained.' 

It  is  obvious  that  this  line  of  exposition  may  be  legitimately 
extended  to  meet  all  the  instances  in  which  flint  and  other 
stone  implements  have  been  found  mixed  with  the  bones  of 
extinct  animals.  Their  coincidence  proves  nothing  as  to 
remoteness  of  time  in  man's  history. 

The  second  form  of  the  argument  depends  on  the  length 
of  time  required  for  geological  changes  which  have  taken  place 
since  the  extinct  animals  and  man  have  been  supposed  to 
live  together.  Geologists  are  not  agreed  regarding  the  age 
of  the  beds  in  which  the  flint  implements  have  been  found. 
Mr.  Prestwich  has  concluded  that  the  evidence  requires  of 
us  to  bring  fonvard  the  extinct  animals  towards  our  own  time, 
as  much  as  it  does  to  carry  man  back  toward  their  supposed 
place  in  geological  time.  The  discussion  has  oscillated 
between  those  who  admit  the  probability  of  unexpected 
temporary  convulsions  or  violent  movements,  and  those  who 
advocate  undeviating  uniformity.  \\'hile  Sir  Charles  heads 
the  latter  in  Britain,  the  late  Sir  R.  Murchison,  an  authority 
equally  high,  led  those  geologists  who  resist  the  attempt  to 
account,  by  slow  and  uniform  processes,  for  all  the  pheno- 
mena Avhich  are  presented.     The  two  methods  in  nature, 

*  "Blackwood's  Magazine,"  October,  i86oj  pp.  428,431, 


CHAP.  XI.]  BLEXDING  LIGHTS.  221 

if  we  so  designate  them,  almost  invariably  go  together ;  and 
if  this  be  granted,  we  may,  without  much  difficulty,  rest 
assured  that  such  rapid  changes  took  place  as  are  adequate 
to  explain  the  facts  by  which  so  many  are  at  present  per- 
plexed. Dr.  Duns,  after  referring  to  Sir  C.  Lyell's  descrip- 
tion of  the  erosive  action  of  running  water,  and  his 
illustration  of  its  force  by  the  river  Simeto  making  its  passage, 
in  the  course  of  two  centuries,  through  the  lava  of  Etna 
(which  had  dammed  up  its  bed  in  1603),  by  opening 
through  the  solid  mass  a  channel  varying  in  width  from  fifty 
to  several  hundred  feet,  and  in  depth,  in  some  parts,  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet,  puts  this  apt  question,  "  If  the  Simeto  has, 
in  two  hundred  years,  cut  a  ravine  through  hard  volcanic 
rock  a  hundred  feet  wide  and  fifty  deep,  how  long  would  the 
Somme  take  to  excavate  its  present  valley  in  the  soft  chalk 
rocks  over  which  it  nms  ?  In  the  latter  case,  we  have  not 
hundreds  of  years,  but  thousands  at  our  disposal."  ^  ^Miile 
there  were  at  work  other  agencies  than  this  erosion  by 
water,  its  influence  ought  surely  to  be  fairly  estimated  as 
producing  geological  changes. 

In  an  able  paper  on  Valley  Gravels.,  which  Mr.  Alfred 
Tylor  read  at  the  Geological  Society,  the  not  uncommon 
supposition  was  maintained,  that  the  drift  of  the  Somme 
valley  was  of  Marine  origin,  and  that  the  flint  |^implements 
had  been  introduced  by  floods,  and  were  of  recent  date. 
While  resisting  both  conclusions,  Mr.  Prestwich  confessed 
that  he  regarded  the  gravels  as  having  been  deposited  by 
forces  far  more  powerful  than  any  recognised  at  the  present 
day,  and  that  the  time  for  producing  the  results  now  visible 
was  therefore  comparatively  sJwrt.  Sir  Roderick  Murchison 
has  emphatically  stated,  in   reference  to   a  corresponding 

^  "  Science  and  Christian  Thought,"  pp.  273,  274. 


222  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XI. 


subject,  that  "  no  analogy  of  tidal  or  fliunlatile  action  can 
explain  either  the  condition  or  position  of  the  debris  and  un- 
rolled flints  and  bones.  On  the  contrary,  by  referring  their 
distribution  to  those  great  oscillations  and  ruptures  by  which 
the  earth's  surface  has  been  so  powerfully  affected  in  former 
times,  we  may  well  imagine  how  the  large  area  under  con- 
sideration was  suddenly  broken  up  and  submerged.  .  .  . 
In  short,  the  clifts  of  Brighton  afford  distinct  proofs  that  a 
period  of  perfect  quiescence  and  ordinary  shore  action,  very 
modern  in  geological  parlance,  but  very  ancient  as  respects 
historj',  was  followed  by  oscillations  and  violent  fractures  of 
the  crust,  producing  the  tumultuous  accumulations  to  which 
attention  has  been  drawn."  ^ 

In  the  view  of  these  oscillations,  and  their  occasionally 
violent  movements,  sometimes  extended  and  sometimes 
limited  in  their  area,  we  cannot  reckon  on  long  periods  for 
producing  efiiects  which  may  have  been  rapidly  accomplished, 
nor  can  we  determine  when  these  may  or  may  not  recur  in 
the  physical  history  of  the  earth's  crust. 

1  Sir  R.  Murchison  "  On  the  Distribution  of  the  Flint  Drifts  of  the 
South-East  of  England." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

(Subject  Continued.) 

Antiquity  of  Man — The  Chro7iology  of  Archceologists — Infer- 
ences connected  with  Geology  and  History — The  Danish 
Shell  -  Mojmds,  Swiss  Lake  Dwellings,  and  Egyptian 
Monuments. 

"The  antiquities  piece  on  in  natural  sequence  to  the  geology  ;  and 
it  seems  but  rational  to  indulge  in  the  same  sort  of  reasonings  regarding 
them.  They  are  the  fossils  of  an  extinct  order  of  things  newer  than 
the  tertiary, — of  an  extinct  race,  of  an  extinct  religion,  of  a  state  of 
society  and  a  class  of  enterprises  which  the  world  saw  once,  but  which 
it  will  never  see  again ;  and  with  but  little  assistance  from  the  direct 
testimony  of  history,  one  has  to  grope  one's  way  along  this  comparatively 
modern  formation,  guided  chiefly,  as  in  the  more  ancient  deposits,  by 
the  clue  of  circumstantial  evidence." — Hugh  Miller. 

THERE  is  another  class  of  facts  more  closely  related  to 
Archaeology  than  to  Geology,  which  arc  also  claimed 
as  evidence  of  man's  antiquity.  Although  archaeology,  as  a 
science,  has  to  do  exclusively  with  man  and  his  works,  it  is 
difficult  to  determine  where  it  begins  in  geology  and  where 
it  ends  in  history,  as  it  interweaves  with  both  and  binds  them 
together.  While  flint  implements  and  human  bones  have 
been  found  in  caves  and  moss-depths,  or  in  other  superficial 
formations,  we  have  classed  them  under  the  section  geology, 
because  there  has  been  nothing  artificial  in  their  resting- 
place  to  distinguish  the  remains  of  man  from  those  of  the 
lower  animals ;  but  where  the  remains  have  been  connected 
with  artificial  structures  of  any  kind,  such  as  the  Danish 
shell-mounds,  the  lake  dwellings,  or  the  American  mounds, 


:24  BLEXDI.\'G  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XII. 


or  Egyptian  and  other  monuments,  we  should  class  them 
under  archcBology. 

This  distinction,  which  we  venture  to  suggest,  will  free  the 
discussion  from  some  of  the  embarrassment  and  confusion 
which  arise  from  commingling  the  same  facts  under  both  the 
geological  and  archaeological  divisions.  It  is  not  absolutely 
accurate ;  because  everything  prehistoric  which  is  related  to 
man  is  archaeological,  whatever  be  the  position  or  circum- 
stances in  which  it  is  discovered ;  but  the  distinction  is 
convenient,  and  it  is  sufficiently  logical  to  give  consistency 
to  the  discussion  of  the  question  before  us. 

III.  For  these  reasons,  we  have  separated  the  facts  which 
we  have  now  to  consider  from  those  already  examined,  as 
more  properly  geological. 

I.  The  first  which  we  notice  are  the  Danish  Shell- 
Mounds,  or  Kjokkenmodding — "  kitchen  refuse  heaps." 
What  are  the  facts  here,  and  what  the  inference  ?  "  At 
certain  points,"  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  "  along  the  shores  of 
nearly  all  the  Danish  islands,  mounds  may  be  seen,  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  thousands  of  cast-away  shells  of  the  oyster, 
cockle,  and  other  molluscs  of  the  same  species  as  those 
which  are  now  eaten  by  man.  The^o  shells  are  plentifully 
mixed  up  with  the  bones  of  various  quadrupeds,  birds,  and 
fish,  which  served  as  the  food  of  the  rude  hunters  and 
fishers  by  whom  the  mounds  were  accumulated."  Similar 
mounds  have  been  left  near  the  shore  by  North- American 
Indians.  "  Scattered  all  through  the  Danish  heaps  are 
flint  knives,  hatchets,  and  other  instruments  of  stone,  horn, 
wood,  and  bone,  with  fragments  of  broken  potter)',  mixed 
with  charcoal  and  cinders;  but  never  any  implements 
of  bronze,  still  less  of  iron.  .  .  .  The  mounds  vary 
in  height  from  three  to  ten  feet,  and,  in  area,  are  some 
of  them    1000   feet   long,   and    from    150    to    200  wide. 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  225 

They  are  rarely  placed  more  than  ten  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  and  are  confined  to  its  immediate  neighbour- 
hood."^ Sir  Charles  briefly  repeats  his  argument  based  on 
the  growth  of  a  succession  of  different  kinds  of  trees,  and  on 
the  slow  growth  of  peat-moss ;  but  as  his  reasoning  has 
already  been  fully  considered,  and  its  weakness  exposed 
in  the  light  of  his  own  admissions,^  it  is  unnecessary 
here  to  make  further  allusion  to  it.  All  that  is  re- 
quired is  to  notice  such  new  reasoning  as  he  has  ad- 
duced, and  for  that  purpose  a  few  sentences  will  suffice. 
His  arguments  are  ( i ),  As  there  are  parts  of  the  coast  where 
the  western  ocean  is  wearing  down  the  cliff,  it  appears  that, 
through  a  slow  process,  the  land  has  been  carried  off  on 
which  shell-mounds  were  raised ;  and  (2),  As  the  cockle  and 
mussel  shells  in  the  mounds  are  larger  than  those  now 
existing  in  the  neighbouring  sea,  a  change  in  its  littoral  water 
has  taken  place.  His  other  arguments  regarding  the  smaller 
race  of  dogs  then  existing,  and  those  birds,  also,  which  are 
now  all  but  extinct,  carry  little  or  no  weight  on  his  side  of 
the  question.  That  certain  mounds  are  not  found  on  the 
western  shore,  proves  nothing  as  to  their  antiquity,  nor  does 
the  fact  of  a  moss  intervening  between  the  sea  and  any 
mound ;  for  there  is  no  evidence  that  moss  was  formed  sub- 
sequently to  such  mounds,  and  besides,  the  early  inhabitants 
may  have  preferred  to  rest  on  their  landward  side. 

The  mere  deterioration  of  the  eatable  shells  can 
scarcely  be  accepted  as  evidence ;  for,  as  Professor 
C.  H.  Hitchcock  has  stated,  while  "  similar  heaps  are 
scattered  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  from  Prince  Edward's 
Island  to  Georgia,"  and  while,  in  both  Continents,  "  these 
heaps  indicate  that  the  oyster  forme;-ly  flourished  in  abund- 

'  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  11,  12.     "  Ante,  Chapter  xi.,  pp.  213,  218. 

Q 


226  BLENDING   LIGHTS,  [cHAP.  XII. 

ance  where  it  is  now  extremely  scarce,"  this  fact  does 
not  of  itself  necessitate  an  ancient  date  for  the  forming  of 
the  refuse  heap ;  "  because  in  Maine,  we  can  prove  that  the 
oyster  became  thus  nearly  extinct  within  the  time  of  the 
white  population."  "  At  the  present  day,"  says  Professor 
Duns,  "there  are  tribes  of  Indians  in  British  North  America 
who  form  such  refuse-heaps  still ;  while,  contemporary  with 
them,  there  are  others  who  have  no  such  customs.  Would 
any  one,  then,  be  warranted  to  conclude  that  these  refuse-heap 
makers  are  greatly  more  ancient  than  the  others?''^  A 
minute  examination  of  proof,  not  only  in  the  localities  where 
recent  discoveries  have  been  made,  but  in  those  distant  parts 
of  the  world  in  which  similar  facts  or  changes  have  been 
noticed,  discredits  the  deductions  which  have  been  made  re- 
garding man's  antiquity. 

2, — Lake  Dwellings. 

There  is  another  series  of  facts  which  have  of  late  awak- 
ened much  interest,  because  they  have  been  employed  in  some 
instances  in  evidence  of  a  remote  antiquity  for  man.  Lake 
Dwellings,  or  houses  built  on  wooden  piles  driven  into  the 
soil,  or  firmly  propped  at  the  bottom  of  lakes,  and  at  some 
distance  from  the  shore,  have  been  found  in  .Switzerland, 
in  Italy,  in  France,  in  Ireland,  and  Scotland.  This  strange 
mode  of  dwelling  seems  to  have  been  common  in  Southern 
and  Western  Europe,  and  to  have  been  intended  as  security 
against  the  attacks  of  beasts  of  prey,  as  well  as  from  the 
inroads  of  hostile  tribes.  Such  dwellings  were  little  known, 
and  attracted  little  attention,  until  the  lakes  and  rivers  in 
Switzerland  sank  lower  than  usual  in  the  winter  of  1853-54; 
and  the  inhabitants  bordering  the  lake  of  Zurich  attempted 
to  reclaim  some  of  the  shore  by  dredging  the  mud  to  form  an 


^  "  Science  and  Christian  Thought,"  p.  228. 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  227 


embankment,  when  they  unexpectedly  found  not  only 
wooden  piles  driven  into  the  bed  of  the  lake,  but  hammers, 
celts,  and  various  implements.  These  hamlets  built  above 
the  waters  having  at  times  taken  fire,  many  of  the 
implements  and  utensils  sank  into  the  lake;  and  these 
relics  have  become  the  fossils  by  which  we  interpret  the 
history  of  the  people  and  estimate  its  length, — they  are  the 
clue  through  the  labyrinth  of  prehistoric  times  by  which  the 
archaeologist  reaches  a  dim  knowledge  of  the  past. 

Finding  stone  implements  in  connection  with  lake  dwell- 
ings, while  in  others  those  of  bronze  predominate,  archaeolo- 
gists have  given  them  a  historical  significance,  assigning,  by 
a  kind  of  random  estimate,  to  the  stone-period  an  age  of 
from  5000  to  7000,  and  to  the  bronze  age  from  3000  to  4000 
years, — in  all,  from  8000  to  11,000  years,  without  including 
any  portion  of  the  iron  age.  Precisely  the  same  kind  of 
elasticity  prevails  in  the. calculations  of  the  archaeologist,  of 
which  we  complained  in  the  reasoning  of  the  geologist.  M. 
Morlot  reaches  his  conclusions  by  assuming  that  the  Tiniere, 
a  torrent  which  flows  into  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  had  formed 
its  delta  of  gravel  and  sand  with  uniform  regularity,  and 
that  layers  of  vegetable  soil  had  been  spread  by  the  slow 
hand  of  many  centuries;  so  that  when  the  cutting  for  a 
railway  laid  open  a  section,  thirty-two  feet  in  depth,  he  had 
only  to  assume  for  the  Roman  period  an  antiquity  of  sixteen 
or  eighteen  centuries,  and  the  rest  was  easy;  to  add 
thousands  was  natural,  and  contradiction  was  difficult.  M. 
Troyon  makes  similar  calculations,  but  Sir  Charles  Lyell 
hesitates  to  accept  any  of  them.  ^ 

Those  lake  dwellings  which  are  nearer  us — the  crannoges 
of  Ireland  and  Scotland — are  acknowledged  to  be  of  recent 

1  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  29. 


228  BLENDIXG  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 

date.  Sir  John  Lubbock  himself  admits  that  they  are  "  re- 
ferable to  a  much  later  period  than  those  of  Switzerland," 
and  that  "  they  are  frequently  mentioned  in  early  history." 
The  O'Neil,  as  late  as  1567,  is  reported  to  have  fortifications 
"  i7i  sartin  ffrcsJnvater  log/ies"  ^  Is  it  not  all  but  incon- 
ceivable that  rude  lake  dwellings  should  continue  through  a 
period  of  5000  or  7000  years,  and  that  through  all  that  time 
agricultural  and  pastoral  life  should  in  any  one  territory  be 
non-existent  ?  Lake  dwellings  would  be  inconsistent  with 
the  maintenance  of  flocks  and  herds ;  and  to  suppose  that 
hunters  only  lived  through  that  long  and  dreary  period,  is 
utterly  incompatible  ^vith  the  growth  of  population  on  the 
one  hand,  and  with  the  supply  of  food  by  the  chase  on  the 
other.  Herodotus  described  lake  dwellings,  about  320 
years  b.c,  similar  to  those  of  the  Swiss,  as  prevailing  among 
the  Paeonians  in  Thrace ;  and  although  he  has  informed  us 
that  the  Pseonians  lived  in  them  \vith  their  families  and  horses, 
the  fact  does  not  nullify  the  opinion  that  the  extension  of 
this  system,  or  anything  like  it,  for  thousands  of  years,  is 
utterly  at  variance  ^vith  the  laws  of  the  Nomadic  or  pastoral 
life.  Similar  habitations  are  still  to  be  found  among  the 
Papoos  in  New  Guinea  and  in  the  straits  of  Malacca.  - 

Such  dwellings  prove  the  enduring  character  of  certain 
habits  of  life  in  the  midst  of  an  advancing  tide  of  improve- 
ment ;  nothing  more.  They  cannot  be  connected  with  the 
meagre  skill  of  the  stone  age,  as  it  has  been  usually  repre- 
sented, because  the  very  maintenance  of  such  dwellings 
presupposes  agricultural  or  pastoral  supplies,  and  the  facts 
which  have  been  brought  to  light  confinn  this  view.  In 
short,  when   all  the  evidence  which  these  lake  dwellings 

*See  an  interesting  chapter  on  Lake  Dwellings  in  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
"  Prehistoric  Times,"  second  edition,  pp.  166-214. 

"^  "Scripture  and  Science  not  at  N'ariance,"  p.  184. 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  229 


furnish,  embracing  stone  and  bronze  implements ;  fragments 
of  nide  pottery ;  remains  of  wheat,  and  barley,  and  flax, 
which  must  have  been  introduced  from  Asia ;  the  bones  of 
animals  whose  representatives  still  live  in  Europe,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Urus,  whidh,  however,  had  not  become 
extinct  until  after  Cresar's  time;  the  thickness  of  mud 
deposits  in  the  delta  of  Tiniere ;  the  rate  at  which  the  land 
has  encroached  on  the  Lake  of  Brienne  ;  and  the  growth 
and  movements  of  mosses  or  bogs  within  even  historic 
times,— has  been  carefully  sifted  and  weighed,  the  mere  idea 
of  5000  or  7000  years  of  such  supposed  facts  resulting  at  last 
in  the  evolution  of  a  bronze  age  is  absurd;  it  is  without  a 
vestige  of  that  support  which  should  entitle  it  to  any 
acknowledgment  in  a  strictly  scientific  inquiry. 

As  the  Danish  mounds  and  lake  dwelUngs  have  been 
introduced  to  give  evidence  in  favour  of  man's  antiquity,  by 
some  whose  attainments  command  universal  respect,  it  is 
necessary  to  make  here  one  or  two  additional  references  to 
the  subject.  WTien  considering  the  origin  and  progress  of 
civihsation,  we  directed  attention  to  the  stone,  bronze,  and 
iron  periods,  in  their  relation  to  man's  power  of  invention 
in  the  savage  state,  and  his  subsequent  advancement:^  but 
it  may  be  of  importance  to  notice,  briefly,  what  did  not  then 
fall  logically  within  the  limits  of  our  exposition,  viz.,— the 
relation  of  these  distinct  periods  to  the  general  question  of 
Time.  What  evidence  do  the  supposed  periods  give  on 
behalf  of  a  remote  antiquity  for  man  ? 

■\Vhile  the  theor}'  of  distinct  periods  gives  convenient 
forms  of  expression,  and  is  useftil  in  indicating,  in  a  general 
way,  progress  in  mechanical  and  industrial  arts,  it  assumes 
what  has  been  already  proved  to  be  untenable  in  either 

^  Chapters  ix  and  x. 


230  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 


fact  or  principle,-^/'^/,  that  man's  origin  was  lower  than 
that  of  the  lowest  savage  now  on  the  face  of  the  earth; 
second,  that  he  has  slowly  crept  upward  through  the  stone 
and  bronze  periods  to  his  present  civiUsed  state ;  and  third, 
that  each  successive  period  emerged  from  that  which  pre- 
ceded, only  after  it  had  run  a  course  of  some  thousands  of 
years.  It  is  the  last  assumption  which  falls  to  be  noticed  ; 
the  first  and  second  have  been  already  considered. 

On  every  student  anxious  to  know  the  truth  of  history, 
irrespective  of  collateral  interests,  the  question  naturally 
presses  itself,  What  of  Asia  and  Africa?  While  it  is 
instructive  to  examine  facts  in  Europe,  and  to  found  on  them 
sweeping  generalisations,  is  it  fair  to  extend  them  to 
countries  whose  facts,  so  far  as  they  have  been  yet  ascer- 
tained, suggest  a  different  conclusion?  It  is  well  kno\s'n 
that,  during  at  least  part  of  the  stone  age  in  Europe,  the 
East  was  resplendent  in  its  civilisation.  How  arrange  the 
facts  of  African  and  Asiatic  civilisation  so  as  to  make  them 
fit  into  this  theory?  In  some  parts  of  the  world,  the  stone 
age  still  lingers.  Suppose  that  three  hundred,  or  only  a 
hundred  years  ago,  its  tools  had  been  buried,  and  explorers 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Horn  brought  up  from 
diggings  some  stone  implements,  what  value  could  be 
attached  to  the  reasoning  based  upon  them  as  to  a  distant 
age  ?  Not  dissimilar  is  the  weakness  of  much  of  the  recent 
reasoning  as  to  periods  which  we  have  been  constrained  to 
study.  It  does  not  make  allowance  for  the  co-existence  in  the 
world  of  tribes  using  stone  implements,  of  communities 
using  bronze,  and  of  nations  using  iron.  The  advocates  of 
the  succession  of  such  periods  by  a  kind  of  lineal  descent, 
fail  in  their  proof;  nay,  rather,  are  answered  by  their  own 
admissions,  that  when  bronze  implements  have  appeared,  they 
have  been  introduced  by  some  foreign  hand  into  a  stone- 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  23I 


using  tribe.      Sir  John  Lubbock  has  admitted,  as  already 
stated  (p.  162),  that  bronze  was  introduced,  not  invented,  in 
Europe ;  and  Worsaae  is  still  more  explicit  on  this  subject 
when  he  states  what  really  is  an  unanswerable  refutation  of 
the   whole   theory   of  period-descent,  a  refutation   all   the 
more  decided  because  coming  from  one  who  is  not  only 
highly  distinguished  as  an  antiquarian,  but  known  as  an 
ardent  supporter   of  the   Period   theory,—"  We  must  not, 
however,"  he  says,  "  by  any  means,  believe  that  the  bronze 
period  developed  itself  among   the  aborigines  gradually,  or 
step  by  step,  out  of  the  stone  period.     On  the  contrary, 
instead  of  the  simple  and  uniform  implements  and  ornaments 
of  stone,  bone,  and  amber,  we  meet  suddenly  with  a  num- 
ber   and   variety   of    splendid    weapons,  implements,   and 
jewels  of  bronze,  and  sometimes,  indeed,  \A\\\jeivels  of  gold, 
'  The  transition  is  so  abrupt,  that  from  the  antiquities  we  are 
enabled  to  conclude,  what  in   the  following  pages  will  be 
further  developed,  that  the  bronze  period  must  have  com- 
menced with  the  irruption  of  a  new  race  of  people,  possessing 
a  higher  degree  of  cultivation  than  the  earlier  inhabitants."  ^ 
Not  only  is   this  introduction  or  irruption   acknowledged, 
but  the  contemporaneous  use  of  stone  and  bronze   imple- 
ments and  utensils  is  distinctly  specified.     "  The  universal 
diffusion  of  metals  could  only  take  place  by  degrees.     Since 
in  Denmark  itself  neither  copper  nor  tin  occurs,— so  that 
these  metals,  being  introduced  from  other  countries,  were,  of 
necessity,  expensive,— the  poorer  classes  continued  >r  a  long 
series  of  years  to  make  use  of  stone  as  their   material."  ^ 
That  they  "  continued  for  a  long  period,"  is  an  admission 
which  shows  how  uncertain  must  be  all  calculations  as  to 


1  "Primeval  Antiquities  of  Denmark,"  by  J.  J.  A.  Worsaae,  p.  24. 
«  Ibid. 


232  BLENDIA'G   LTCI/TS.  [cHAP.  XII. 


Time,  for  if,  in  any  locality,  stone  implements  left  by  the 
poor  had  been  discovered  long  after  bronze  was  used  by  the 
higher  classes,  a  miscalculation  of  some  thousand  years 
might  possibly  be  made. 

Engelhardt,  referring  to  the  same  sudden  change,  as  it  is 
seen  especialFy  in  burial  customs,  says  that  it  cannot  be 
accounted  for  by  the  peaceful  intercourse  of  civilised  nations, 
and  that  the  thne  of  the  change  cannot  be  determined  by 
the  antiquities  themselves^  because  neither  coins  nor  inscrip- 
tions have  been  disco\ered. 

And  what  is  worthy  of  special  notice  is,  that  Engelhardt 
acknowledges  an  equally  complete  and  sudde/i  change  in  the 
introduction  of  the  iron  age.  There  is  no  slow  transition. 
"  The  differences,"  he  says,  "  are  too  striking.  We  look  in 
vain  for  points  of  resemblance  between  the  antiquities  of  the 
two  periods  with  regard  to  shape  and  ornamentation."'  ^ 
Thus,  according  to  these  Danish  archaeologists,  there  is  no 
proof  whatever  of  the  same  race  passing  upwards  from  the 
stone  to  the  bronze,  or  from  the  bronze  to  the  iron  age,  with- 
out some  new  impulse  or  adequate  external  force.  Nor 
do  the  leading  Danish  antiquarians  indulge  in  extravagant 
claims  as  to  time.  Worsaae  attributes  "to  the  stone 
age  an  antiquity  of  at  least  3000  years ; "  and  he 
adds,  that  "  there  are  geological  reasons  for  believing  that 
the  bronze  period  must  have  prevailed  in  Denmark  five 
or  six  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ."  -  This 
estimate  is  easily  reducible  within  the  general  limits  of 
Bible  chronology;  and  Engelhardt  is  equally  cautious  in 
making  the  first  or  oldest  division  of  the  iron  age  about 
250  B.C.      The  transition  period  he  extends  to  the  seventh 

1  "  Denmark  in  the  Early  Iron- Age,  illustrated  by  Recent  Discoveries 
in  the  Peat-Mosses  of  Slesvig,"  by  Conrad  Engelhardt,  p.  7.     1866. 
*  "Primeval  Antiquities  of  Denmark,"  p.  135. 


CHAP.  Xir.]  BIE AWING    LIGHTS.  233 

century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  the  late  iron  age  to  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  in  Denmark,  about  the  year  1000. 

But  even  this  modified  and  comparatively  unobjection- 
able view  is  not  accepted  by  some  of  our  more  experienced 
arch^ologists.  While  they  admit  that  stone  implements  are 
found  abundantly  in  all  parts  of  the  British  Islands,  and  in 
all  parts  of  the  world,  and  that  "  nothing  seems  more  natural, 
not  only  in  a  very  rude  state  of  society,  but  also  in  much 
more  civilised  times,  when  communication  between  different 
parts  of  the  country  was  slow,  and  metal  was  not  always  to 
be  had,  than  to  form  rough  tools  or  weapons,  especially  for 
the  chase,  of  hard  stones,"  they  are  of  opinion  that  "  it  has 
been  assumed  rather  hastily  that,  where  we  find  these  imple- 
ments of  stone,  the  people  to  whom  they  belonged  were 
not  acquainted  with  the  art  of  working  metals."  ^  Mr, 
Wright,  whose  decision  is  of  great  weight,  gives  a  series  of 
examples  to  show  that  the  stone  implements  have  mingled 
with  bronze  and  iron,  and  that  they  have  been  continued  to 
a  recent  date, — to  the  battle  of  Hastings,  for  instance,  in 
England,  and  to  the  wars  of  Wallace  in  Scotland.  ^  And 
he  gives  it,  also,  as  his  opinion,  that  many  of  the  flint 
implements  could  not  have  been  prepared  as  they  have  been, 
without  metal  instruments,  even  where  such  have  not  been 
found  associated  with  them. 

Obscure  as  many  of  the  local  facts  are,  and  unconnected 
as  are  the  records  of  the  different  races,  enough  is  becoming 
distinctly  known  not  only  to  make  us  hesitate  about 
admitting  the  sequence  of  these  ages  in  the  line  which  the 
theorists  demand,  but  to  confirm  our  belief  in  the  general 


^  "The  Celt,  the  Roman,  and  the  Briton,"  by  Thomas  Wright,  Esq., 
pp.  69,  72. 

-  "The  Celt,  the  Roman,  and  the  Briton,"  p.  72, 


234  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 


chronological  outline  given  in  the  Bible,  to  which  we  have 
already  referred.  "  I'he  utmost  that  these  remains  enable 
us  to  do,"  says  an  able  writer,  "  is  to  conclude  something 
of  certain  races  in  a  corner  of  the  world,  probably,  at  any- 
rate  possibly,  driven  into  it  from  earlier  seats ;  they  contri- 
bute but  little  light  to  the  larger  and  more  interesting 
questions  connected  with  the  early  condition  and  progress  of 
mankind.  And  these  remains  themselves  are,  for  the  present, 
hopelessly  isolated.  All  existing  collections,  numerous  and 
abundant  as  they  are,  fail  to  supply  a  thread  which  connects 
one  group  with  another,  either  in  the  line  of  descent  or  in 
collateral  relationship.  We  cannot  find  the  clue  to  pass 
from  stone  to  bronze,  or  from  bronze  to  iron.  Further,  it  is 
very  precarious  to  make  rudeness  in  workmanship  or  differ- 
ence in  material  a  test  of  relative  antiquity.  .  .  .  Again, 
the  relation,  in  point  of  time,  of  bronze  to  iron,  is  far  too 
uncertain  to  warrant  us  in  making  an  age  of  iron  after  an 
age  of  bronze.  It  may  be  probable  that  in  certain  races 
bronze  was  used  before  iron  in  preference  to  it,  or,  at  any- 
rate,  instead  of  it ;  but  as  a  general  rule,  we  can  but  guess, 
and  our  grounds  for  guessing  are  not  very  good.  We  are 
in  absolute  ignorance  of  everything  connected  with  the  first 
use  of  the  metals ;  how  and  when  they  were  applied  to  the 
purposes  of  daily  life ;  under  what  circumstances  of  dis- 
covery, or  foreign  introduction  and  teaching,  they  came  to 
be  employed  in  Europe."'  ^ 

There  is  a  \ery  general  concurrence  of  opinion  among 
ethnologists,  that  the  successive  advances  of  population  over 
Europe  have  originated  in  Asia ;  that  the  probable  seats  of 
early  civilisation  were  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  the  Euphrates, 
the  Tigris,  the  Indus,  and  the  Ganges ;  and  that  the  rapid 

^  "  Saturday  Review,"  August  12,  1865,  p.  208. 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  235 


changes  in  mechanical  or  industrial  arts  which  unexpectedly 
meet  the  archaeologist  in  Western  Europe,  are  traceable  to 
Eastern  impulse.  Archaeological  science  is  adjusting  its 
inferences  regarding  periods  to  a  wider  induction  of  facts, 
and  it  is  cheering  to  find  that  adjustment  coming  closer  to 
the  Scripture  record.  Students  in  different  sections  are  so 
approaching  each  other,  that  the  light  of  their  more  accurate 
conclusions  is  beginning  to  blend  with  the  light  which  the 
Bible  has  been  for  ages  shedding  on. the  antiquity  of  man. 

Our  attention  has  hitherto  been  exclusively  directed  to 
the  evidence  connected  with  the  rude  skill  and  practices  of 
either  apparently  or  really  barbarous  tribes ;  but  there  re- 
mains for  examination  another  important  department,  which 
is  dependent  for  its  facts  on  the  existence  of  a  high  degree 
of  civilisation.     It  is 

III. — The  Evidence  from  Ancient  Monuments  and 
Inscriptions. 

As  the  monuments  of  Egypt  alone  have  supplied  the 
chief  proof  which  has  been  adduced  in  support  of  man's 
antiquity,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  examine  in  detail  sub- 
ordinate or  incidental  evidences  of  the  same  kind  obtained 
in  other  countries ;  nor  will  it,  indeed,  be  necessary  to  spend 
much  time  with  the  evidence  which  Egypt  has  supplied 
because  the  reasoning  Avhich  was  for  some  years  eagerly 
maintained  has  been  almost  altogether  abandoned.  We 
shall  have  occasion,  however,  to  refer  more  particularly  to 
the  monuments  and  inscriptions,  not  only  of  Egypt,  but  of 
other  countries,  when  inquiring  to  what  extent,  in  the  light 
of  History,  the  minuter  as  well  as  the  more  general  state- 
ments of  the  Bible  are  receiving  merited  recognition  and 
acknowledgment. 

Nothing   could   be    more   natural,  we    admit,   than   the 
demand  on  the  part  of  the  rejecter  of  the  Bible,  that  the 


236  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 


Christian  should  look  at  the  Eg)'ptian  monuments  and 
inscriptions,  and  acknowledge  the  likelihood  that  tliey  told 
of  an  earlier  history  for  man  than  the  Bible  gave.  The 
pyramids  of  Egypt,  ^vith  their  overawing  and  sombre  vast- 
ness  ;  her  temples,  with  their  sphinxes,  colonnades,  and 
painted  chambers;  her  palaces  and  obeHsks,  with  their  traces 
of  exquisite  culture,  scattered  with  most  amazing  profusion  ; 
her  mysterious  hieroglyphics  and  papyrus-rolls ;  have  made 
her  truly  "a  land  of  wonders,"  and  have  most  naturally 
suggested  the  inquiry,  Since  ruins  so  vast,  representing,  in 
varied  forms,  art  so  advanced,  have  existed  for  so  many 
centuries,  what  may  have  been  the  range  of  history  that 
created  a  civiUsation  which,  after  all,  they  only  in  part 
reveal  ?  It  is  indicated  in  the  Bible  that,  even  in  Abraham's 
time,  remarkable  advances  had  been  made ;  for  when  he 
went  to  Egypt  there  was  a  completely-organised  nation,  with 
its  king  and  princes,  its  gold  and  silver,  and  its  abundant 
agricultural  produce.  In  all  the  aspects  of  ancient  Egypt, 
there  appeared  so  many  tokens  of  a  remotely  early  civiUs- 
ation, that  no  surprise  need  be  felt  at  the  urgency  with 
which  infidel  writers  continued  to  ply  Christians  to  )'ield 
the  Bible  as  historically  untrustworthy,  nor  at  the  emj^hasis 
with  which  they  asserted  that  //  these  monuments  could 
only  find  an  interpreter,  the  writings  of  Moses  would  soon 
be  thoroughly  conftited.  To  the  questions,  How  long  since 
these  pyramids  were  built ?  and,  \\liat  mean  these  inscrip- 
■^ns  ?  the  Christian  apologist  could  give  no  answer ;  and 
,  .    'bnc'lence  was  reckoned  equivalent  to  bigotry  or  defeat. 

1\,  'le  monuments  have  at  last  found  interpreters,  and  the 
But  the  I  ,     •      ,  ,  A 

.  ^      y^ilisjs  obtained  his  required  answer. 

onsideA^'ng  the  early  civilisation  of  Eg>pt  and  other 

tries    it  must  be  grai^-ted  that  there  arc  no  dales   by 

.  ,    ^^.^  can  determine  tl,K>  length  of  time -between  the 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDIXG  LIGHTS.  237 

Deluge  or  the  Dispersion  at  the  building  of  the  Tower  of 
Babel,  and  the  visit  of  Abraham  to  Egypt.  It  has,  there- 
fore, been  variously  estimated.  The  Vatican  copy  of  the 
Septuagint  gives  11 72  years  as  the  length  between  the 
Deluge  and  the  70th  year  of  Terah,  Abraham's  father ; 
Josephus,  1002;  and  the  Hebrew,  only  about  427  years. 
The  difference  is  \ery  great  between  the  first  date  and  the 
last ;  but  we  may  fairly  assume  that  a  much  longer  period 
elapsed  between  the  Deluge  and  the  time  at  which  Abraham 
visited  Egypt.  If  we  even  restrict  ourselves  to  the  lowest 
Septuagint  number,  there  is  a  period  of  about  1200  years 
for  the  outcome  of  Egyptian  civilisation,  as  it  is  represented 
in  Abraham's  time.  We  do  not,  however,  impose  any  such 
restriction ;  the  period  may  have  been  greatly  longer ;  the 
Bible  does  not  settle  those  early  dates,  nor  does  it  supply 
reliable  historical  data,  until  the  time  of  Saul,  and  the 
building  of  the  temple  by  Solomon.  We  do  not  hesitate, 
therefore,  to  give  such  scope  to  the  Bible  chronology 
between  the  Deluge  and  the  time  of  Abraham's  visit  to 
Egypt,  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  all  the  facts  of  its 
early  civilisation.  As  the  numbers  given  in  the  Bible  have 
been  expressed  by  alphabetic  letters,  which  are,  in  several 
instances,  like  each  other,  they  may  have  been  interchanged ; 
and  not  only  may  differences  have  thus  arisen,  but  the  time 
also  may  have  been  unduly  shortened.  As  the  Bible  is  not 
specific  in  its  early  dates,  none  of  the  chronological  systems 
which  have  been  published  have  divine  authority;  and  we 
violate  no  principle  in  preferring  whatever  period  gives  the 
fullest  and  most  natural  range  for  the  development  of 
Egyptian  civilisation  prior  to  the  times  of  Abraham  and 
Joseph. 

It  is,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  kept  in  view,  that  all  the 
skill  which  those  had  reached  who  lived  before  the  De 


23^  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XII. 

their  knowledge  of  toriting  (probably  in  different  forms), 
their  power  in  representing  ideas  and  objects  pictorially,  and 
their  notions  of  domestic  and  social  organisation,  would,  in 
all  likelihood,  be  transferred  to  the  New  World  by  Noah 
and  his  family.  The  human  race  would  thus  enter  on  a 
fresh  course  after  the  Flood,  not  with  everything  to  learn, 
but  with  the  ideas,  the  habits,  and  the  mechanical  skill  of  that 
ancient  civilisation  of  which  striking  glimpses  are  obtained 
in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis. 

While  holding  this  view,  and  admitting  the  necessity  of  an 
elongated  early  chronology,  we  reflise  to  rush  to  the  opposite 
extreme,  and  to  accept  or  advocate  a  period  of  six  or 
seven  thousand  years  between  the  Deluge  and  the  time  of 
Abraham,  not  only  because  it  is  unnecessary  for  such  facts 
as  are  known,  but  because,  in  that  time,  according  to  the 
ordinary  laws  regulating  the  growth  of  nations,  there  would 
have  been  other  revolutions  than  those  which  have  been 
recorded  both  in  the  Bible  and  in  profane  histories. 

Without  further  prefatory  remarks,  let  us  inquire  whether 
the  monuments  themselves  unfold  anything  like  the  history 
which  opponents  of  the  Bible  have  claimed.  While  it 
was  supposed  that  the  pyramids  were  built  in  ages  so 
remote  as  to  baffle  research,  and  that  the  mysterious 
inscriptions  on  monuments  and  on  the  papyrus-rolls,  if  only 
once  interpreted,  would  unfold  a  history  which  should  con- 
found the  defenders  of  the  Bible,  strangely  enough,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  the  age  of  the  pyramids  has  been  deter- 
mined, and  tlie  inscriptions  have  been  largely  deciphered, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  vindicate  the  Bible  and  place  legitimate 
inferences  beyond  cavil  or  objection. 

That  which  is  held  to  be  the  oldest  pyramid,  has  been 
proved  by  Sir  John  Herschel  to  have  been  built  as  late  as 
between  21 71  or  2123  b.c.     Professor  Piazzi  Smyth  has  con- 


CHAP.  XII.] 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  ^39 


firmed  the  conclusion.  By  astronomical  science  the  date 
has  been  established,  and  the  idle  speculations  about  remote 
ages  have  been  swept  aside.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some 
r^^onuments  which  are  supposed  to  be  older  than  this  gr  a 
pyramid;  as,  for  instance,  the  pyramid  of  Saqqarah  the 
tomb  of  King  Scnta^  and  the  statues  of  the  family  of  Sefia, 
belonging  respectively  to  the  first,  second,  and  th-^  dynas- 
ties--but  two  centuries,  at  most,  are  held  sufticient  to 
represent  the  whole  difference.  Champollion  has  given  it 
as  his  opinion  that  "no  Egyptian  monument  is  really  older 
1  .^^T>r"    MnrietteBev  has  adduced  evidence 

than  the  year  2 200  B.C.      Marieueiiey 

in  favour  of  a  like  general  conclusion  ;  and  Sir  J.  G.  ^^  ilkm- 
son  has  decided  that  few  paintings  or  sculptures  remain  of 
an  age  prior  to  the  accession  of  Osirtesen  I.   whom  he  sup- 
poses to  have  been  contemporary  with  Joseph,  and  to  have 
ascended  the  throne  about  the  year  B.C.  1 740.      The  tombs 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  pyramids,  and  those  hewn  m  the  rock 
near  Qasr  e'Sy'ad,  the  ancient  Chenoboscion,  he  regards  as 
places  of  sepulture  of  individuals  who  lived  in  the  time  of 
Suphis  and  his  immediate  successors,  and  as  having,  there- 
fore, a  date  about  the  year  2090  or  2050  B.c.,^-that  is,  before 
the  time  of  Abraham.      The  claims  of  a.  greatly  older  date, 
because  of  stones  in  the  area  of  the  pyramid,  he  sets  aside 
as  without  support.      "  It  is  evident,"  he  says    "  that  the 
tombs  built  of  stone,  which  stand  in  the  area  before  and  be- 
hind the  great  pyramid,  were  erected  after  it  had  been  com- 
menced, if  not  completed,  as  their  position  is  made  to  con- 
form to  that  monument;  and  that  those  hewn  m  the  rock 
at  the  same  place  were  not  of  an  older  period,  is  shown  by  the 
style   of   the   sculptures   and   the   names   of  the   kings. 

1  "Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,"  by  Sir  J.  G. 
Wilkinson,  vol.  III.,  pp.  277,27.8.  '  I^^'l'  P-  278. 


240  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 

That  date  must  be  the  starting-place  of  the  Bible  student, — 
if  he  go  backward,  there  is  hopeless  confusion ;  if  he  go 
forward,  there  is  increasing  light. 

This  important  decision  as  to  the  date  of  the  oldest  p}Tamid, 
has  been  amply  vindicated  by  the  inscriptions  that  have  been 
recently  deciphered.  These  inscriptions,  with  their  mysteri- 
ous hieroglyphics  or  sacred  sculpture,  and  their  hieratic 
characters,  which  no  scholar  could  interpret  or  explain,  were 
for  many  centuries  wistfully  examined,  but  in  vain.  Those 
whose  attainments  and  skill  were  the  most  likely  to  command 
a  solution  of  these  historical  enigmas,  were  completely  baffled; 
and  the  rejecters  of  the  Bible,  as  unworthy  of  belief  in  even 
its  historical  statements,  were  all  pointing  in  triumph  to 
the  mysterious  monuments  of  Egypt  as  probable  witnesses  of 
remotest  ages,  when,  apparently  by  accident,  the  means  of 
interpreting  them  were  obtained.  The  circumstances  were 
no  less  remarkable  than  the  tivie  in  the  controversy  was 
opportune.  The  French  Government  had  sent  along  with  the 
army,  in  its  expedition  to  Egypt  in  1798,  a  number  of  men 
distinguished  in  the  various  branches  of  science  and  literature, 
to  inquire  into  the  antiquities  of  the  country.  Engineers 
and  draftsmen  were  sent  to  help  them, — every  facility  was 
granted  to  secure  success, — and  the  reports,  with  the  monu- 
ments sent  home,  aroused  public  attention  not  in  France 
only,  but  over  all  Europe. 

In  digging  the  foundation  of  Fort  St.  Julian,  near  Rosetta, 
the  French  engineers  came  on  a  huge  block  of  black  basalt, 
having  inscriptions  which  at  once  awakened  the  greatest 
interest  and  the  liveliest  hopes.  This  precious  monument 
was  afterwards  taken  from  the  French  by  the  English  fleet, 
and  in  1799  deposited  in  the  British  Museum  as  the 
"  Rosetta  Stone."  Its  importance  it  would  be  difficult  to 
over-estimate.     As  its  history  is  well  known,  no  fuller  refer- 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  24I 


ences  need  be  made  to  it  than  are  barely  necessary  for  our 
argument.  It  has  three  distinct  inscriptions.  The  uppermost 
one  is  in  hieroglyphics  much  mutilated ;  the  second  is  in  the 
enchorial  or  demotic  character, — that  is,  in  the  language 
early  spoken  by  the  people,  but  after\vards  lost;  and  the 
third  is  in  Greek,  and  it  was  understood  to  be  a  translation 
of  the  hieroglyphics.  For  about  twenty  years  the  problem 
remained  unsolved ;  the  Rosetta  stone  continued  a  mystery, 
notwithstanding  the  earnest  study  of  the  most  accomplished 
scholars  in  Europe,  who  had  obtained  copies  of  it.  While 
many  a  burning  brow  had  ached  in  the  attempt  to  solve  the 
problem, — while  Champollion,  a  young  Frenchman,  having 
with  wonderful  enthusiasm  studied  Egyptian  antiquities,  had 
published,  in  18 14,  his  learned  work,  ''L'Egypte  sous  les 
Pharaons,"  containing  a  collection  of  the  geographical  notices 
occurring  in  Coptic  MSS.  collated  with  those  of  ancient  and 
modern  authors,  and  while,  by  the  research  and  ingenuity 
which  his  work  evinced,  he  had  given  fresh  impulse  to  many 
an  ardent  student, — infidel  archaeologists,  and  mere  littera- 
teurs, whose  attainments  in  any  science  were  slight,  were 
alike  eager  in  making  the  most  of  their  opportunity,  by 
turning  every  new  discovery  to  account  against  the  Bible, 
by  challenging  Christian  apologists  to  speak  out  in  defence 
of  its  historical  statements,  and  by  meeting  their  silence 
with  ridicule,  sarcasm,  and  merciless  invective. 

The  claims  of  an  immense  antiquity  were  urged  with  as 
much  tenacity  of  purpose  as  have  been  the  demands  of  the 
geologist  for  millions  on  millions  of  years,  and  two  of  the 
strongest  proofs  then  adduced  were  the  once  famous  Zodiacs 
of  Denderah  and  Esneh.  The  facts  may  be  briefly  recalled, 
as  shoA\ing  us  the  necessity  there  is  for  caution,  and  the  en- 
couragement there  is  for  confidence  in  the  Bible. 

When,  in    1798,  General  Buonaparte,  with  his  French' 

R 


242  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP .  XII. 


soldiery  and  his  literary  men,  entered  the  small  to^^Tl  of 
Denderah,  in  Central  Egypt,  he  found  two  temples,  one 
large  and  one  small,  covered  with  hieroglyphics  and  images 
of  deities.  The  literary  men  not  only  copied  the  drawings, 
but  carried  away  the  whole  ceiling  of  the  small  temple,  and 
when  it  reached  Paris,  ardent  archaeologists  hastily  scanned 
it ;  they  applied  to  certain  marks  in  the  inscription  some 
principles  of  astronomical  calculation,  and  inferred  that  the 
time  at  which  the  temple  was  erected  was  17,000  years  before 
the  Christian  era !  There  was  great  excitement ;  volume 
followed  volume  on  the  subject ;  pamphlets  and  newspapers 
discussed  the  theme  as  the  great  discovery  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Hundreds  of  thousands  flocked  to  the  National 
Library  in  Paris  to  see  the  antediluvian  monument ;  and 
when  Charles  X.,  in  order  to  save  it  from  destruction, 
placed  it  in  a  dark  chamber,  sceptics  declaimed  fiercely 
against  keeping  the  people  from  becoming  enlightened,  and 
railed  against  belief  in  a  Deluge  or  in  Creation  as  stated  in 
the  Bible,  and  especially  against  the  impositions  of  a  "  wily 
priesthood."  "  Now  you  can  see,"  they  said,  "  that  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  contain,  from  beginning  to  end,  a 
series  of  lies." 

In  the  temple  of  Esneh,  another  of  "the  Zodiacs"  was  dis- 
covered, and  on  being  brought  to  France  and  examined,  it 
also  had  an  antiquity  of  1 7,000  years  assigned  to  it.  The 
dates,  however,  were  not  indisputable,  for  M.  Jomard  made 
one  of  them  1923  years  b.c,  M.  Dupuis  made  it  4000  years 
old,^  while  tlie  popular  inference  was  that  of  M.  Gori,  who  as- 
signed 1 7,000  years  as  assuredly  the  right  age.  When  scholars 
who  had  precisely  the  same  data  came  to  conclusions  so 
widely  different,  we  should  have  supposed  that  comparatively 
little  importance  would  have  been  attached  to  the  proof  in 
favour  of  great  antiquity ;  but  it  was  othen\'ise.    Their  reason- 


CHAP.  Xn.]  BLEKDING  LTGHTS.  243 

ing  made  a  deep  impression,  not  only  in  France,  but  in 
Britain,  and  in  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  the  oldest  date 
found  the  fullest  acceptance. 

For  a  time  there  was  no  answer;  but  it  came.  Dr.  Young, 
in  18 1 9,  published  the  results  of  his  patient  and  laborious 
investigations,  in  the  '■'■  Supplement  to  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  under  the  Article  Egypt.  A  beginning  in  the 
right  direction  was  made,  and  in  a  short  time,  through  the 
labours  of  Dr.  Young  and  ChampoUion,  the  Rosetta  Stone's 
threefold  inscription  became  the  key  to  open  up  many  of  the 
Egyptian  secrets. 

Afteralmost  incredible  toil,  ChampoUion,  having  deciphered 
the  hieroglyphics,  read  in  the  famous  inscription  on  the 
temple  of  Denderah,  the  name  and  titles  of  Atigiistus  Ccesarf 
showing  that  it  could  be  no  older  than  the  time  when 
Christianity  was  introduced ;  and  in  that  of  the  temple  at 
Esneh,  the  name  of  Antoninus  !  proving  that,  instead  of  be- 
ing built  17,000  years  before  the  Christian  era,  it  was  about 
140  years  after  it !  There  was  a  sudden  and  strange  collapse 
over  all  Europe  of  the  inflated  opposition  to  the  Bible, 
which  this,  and  similar  discoveries,  had  temporarily  sus- 
tained ;  and  it  is  now  indisputable  that  all  the  six  Zodiacal 
representatives  which  have  been  discovered  in  Egypt,  are 
traceable  to  the  time  when  the  country  passed  through  the 
hands  of  the  Greeks,  and  that  their  origin  is  within  two 
hundred  years  of  the  Christian  era. 

As  we  thus  closely  follow  archaeological  guidance  to  the 
clearer  or  historic  side,  is  it  not  instructive  to  observe  how, 
at  the  outset,  mistakes  have  been  committed  similar  to  those 
which  we  noticed  on  the  geologic  side  ?  and  how  correction 
has  proceeded  from  the  very  science  whose  principles  have 
been  misapplied  in  promoting  error  ? 

The  exposing  of  erroneous  conclusions  was  only  part  of 


244  BLEXDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 

the  important  work  that  followed  the  acceptance  of  the 
methods  of  interpretation  which  Young  and  ChampoUion 
had  introduced.  Rosellini,  Lepsius,  Sir  G.  Wilkinson,  Birch, 
and  others,  have  also  rendered  invaluable  service  in  decipher- 
ing inscriptions,  and  the  result  has  been  the  total  displace- 
ment of  the  old  notion  regarding  the  remote  antiquity  of  the 
monuments  themselves. 

It  has  been  indisputably  ascertained  that  they  are  all  of 
comparatively  recent  date.  The  Rosetta  Stone  itself  is  no 
older  than  190  years  B.C.,  and  bears  on  it  the  well-known 
names  of  "  Ptolemy  and  Berenice,  the  Saviour  gods."  It 
ascribes  divine  honours  to  Ptolemy,  and  praises  him  for 
various  acts  of  liberality  and  wisdom  in  the  earlier  years  of 
his  reign. 

An  obelisk  which  has  been  brought  from  Philae  to  Eng- 
land, contained,  like  the  Rosetta  Stone,  an  inscription  in 
hieroglyphics  and  in  Greek ;  about  the  latter  there  was  no 
difficulty,  and  the  hieroglyj^hic  section  has  been  found  to  be 
its  counterpart, — "a  supplication  of  the  priests  of  Isis, residing 
at  Philae,  to  King  Ptolemy,  to  Cleopatra  his  sister,  and 
Cleopatra  his  wife."  The  inscription  brings  the  date  of  the 
obelisk  near  to  the  time  of  Clirist,  and  the  oldest  remains  in 
Philae  are  supposed  to  be  only  about  390  B.C. 

The  large  hieroglyphic  tablet  of  Abydos, — "the  Doomsday 
Book  of  Egyi:)tian  chronology," — gives  a  genealogical  list 
of  the  immediate  predecessors  of  Rameses  the  Great,  the 
Sesostris-  of  Herodotus,  who  ascended  the  throne  as  late  as 
1473  c.G. 

Much  has  been  WTitten  regarding  tlie  temples  of  Karnac 
and  their  inscriptions ;  but  we  have  at  present  to  do  merely 
with  the  dates  of  their  erection, — we  have  to  question  them 
only  as  to  the  past.  The  oldest  remains  discovered  have 
been  connected  mth  the  period  of  Osirtesen  I.,  ab'out  1750 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  245 

B.C.,  near  the  time  of  Joseph;  while  the  principal  obeUsks 
and  the  avenue  of  the  sphinxes  are  attributed  to  the  kings 
who  reigned  about  1380  b.c. 

Luxor — rendered  in  the  hieroglyphic  language,  the  palaces 
— represents  in  its  ruins,  buildings  originally  of  surpassing 
grandeur.  It  was  connected  by  avenues  with  Karnac,  and 
the  date  of  its  palaces  has  been  proved  by  inscriptions  to  be 
that  of  Pharaoh  Amenophis  III.,  who  reigned  about  1430  e.g. 

These  brief  notices  afford  no  more  than  a  glimpse  of  in- 
scriptions appearing  everyAvhere  amid  ruins,  which,  in  their 
extent  and  magnificence,  are  the  wonder  of  the  world.  We 
must  refer  to  works  on  the  subject  for  details  as  to  "  the 
services  of  Aahmes-Penneben  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  dynasty ;  the  Eilethyian  inscription  recording  the 
wars  against  the  Hykshos ;  the  tablet  of  Karnac  containing 
the  annals  of  Thothmes  III.  j  the  treaty  between  Rameses  II. 
and  the  Khita ;  the  records  of  making  tanks  or  wells  for 
miners  at  the  gold  washings ;  the  records  of  the  star  risings  in 
the  tomb  of  Rameses  V.;"'-  and  others  of  various  dates,  till 
the  time  of  Cambyses  and  Darius  Hystapes.  Enough  has 
been  stated  for  our  argument,  that  the  monuments  were  raised 
within  the  period  determined  for  the  oldest  pyramid.  As 
the  origin  of  these  ancient  niins  seemed  to  be  lost  in  a 
mysterious  and  dateless  past,  the  urgency  with  which  infidel 
archaeologists  and  historians  demanded  that  the  Christian 
student  should  yield  the  books  of  Moses  as  a  worthless 
fable,  was  not  unnatural ;  but  faith  and  patience  h§ve  been 
rewarded  by  a  triumphant  settlement  of  the  question  as  to 
all  the  old  monuments  coming  easily  within  the  Bible  record. 

A  careftil  examination  of  many  papyrus-rolls  has  educed 
similar  results.     When  they  refer  to  historical  events,  it  is  to 

^  "Egyptian  Hieroglyplis,"  by  S.  Birch,  p.  270. 


246  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XII. 

such  as  are  noticed  on  the  monuments ;  and  while  some 
contain  genealogies  of  kings  or  revenues  of  temples,  and 
some  give  details  of  the  foreign  conquests  of  the  ancient 
Kings  of  Egypt,  others  are  filled  \\ith  repetitions  of  the 
funeral  ritual  or  prayer  for  the  dead.  One  or  two  illustrations 
or  specimens  must  suffice.  In  the  Papyrus  No.  36,  of  the 
Royal  Museum  at  Turin,  it  is  written, — "  In  the  36th  year, 
on  the  1 8th  of  the  month  Athyr,  of  the  reign  of  the  sovereigns 
Ptolemy  and  Cleopatra  his  sister,  the  children  of  Ptolemy 
and  Cleopatra,  gods  Epiphanes;"  and  this  is  followed  by  a 
contract  for  the  sale  of  the  profits  of  certain  religious  offer- 
ings. In  another  papyrus  fragment  in  the  same  Museum, 
there  is  a  list  of  fifty-four  kings  in  the  order  of  their  succes- 
sion till  the  twelfth  dynasty.  In  one  of  the  papyri,  there  is 
a  metrical  account  of  the  campaign  of  Rameses  II.  against 
the  Khita,  written  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign ;  and  in 
another,  "a  series  of  communications  relating  to  certain 
transactions  in  Egypt  in  the  reign  of  Apepi,  as  a  shepherd 
king ;  and  Tanaaken,  a  king  of  the  seventeenth  dynasty, 
relative  to  a  political  and  religious  controversy."  ^ 

Some  papyrus-rolls,  which  were  originally  supposed  to  be 
^\Titten  at  a  very  early  period  in  Egyptian  histor}',  have  been 
assigned  by  modem  critics  a  very  recent  age.  We  may 
mention,  for  instance,  the  Ritual  for  the  Dead,  which  was 
at  one  time  regarded  as  extremely  old,  but  is  now  considered 
to  be  only  of  the  age  of  the  Ptolemies,  or  even  later.  A  transla- 
tion of  this  long  funereal  papyrus  is  given  by  Bunsen,  in  146 
chapters,  to  which  those  may  turn  who  desire  to  study  one 
of  those  strange  documents  which  shed  light  on  olden 
religious  experiences  and  aspirations.^ 


1  For  a  list  of  papyi-us  records,  see  "Egyptian  Hieroglyphs,"  by  S. 
Birch,  pp.  276,  279. 

*  "Egypt's  riace  in  Universal  History,"  vol.  V.,  pp.  161,  m. 


CHAP.  XII. J  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  247 

Of  the  Demotic  wTiting,  or  that  once  common  dialect 
which,  in  Egypt,  superseded  the  sacred  language,  it  is 
almost  unnecessary  to  give  any  account.  Although  not 
introduced  until  the  time  of  the  Psammetici,  about  664 
before  the  Christian  era,  it  passed  away  about  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  after  Christ,  having  had  a  course  of  rather 
more  than  900  years,  and,  strangely  enough,  it  is  now  less 
kno^\Ti  than  that  by  which  it  was  immediately  preceded,  and 
its  comparative  recency  renders  its  testimonies  regarding  the 
earliest  ages  of  Egyptian  history  of  little  value. 

Out  of  those  materials  to  which  reference  has  been  made, 
— the  lists  of  kings  on  the  monuments  and  in  the  papyrus- 
rolls,  with  the  historical  arrangements  and  comments  of  the 
historians,  Manetho  and  Eratosthenes, — systems  of  chronolo- 
gy have  been  constructed  by  such  distinguished  scholars  as 
Bunsen,  Boeckh,  and  Rodier;  but  the  evidence  is  inadequate, 
and  the  conclusions  have  therefore  been  unsatisfactory.  As 
it  is  impossible  to  say,  in  many  instances,  what  kings  were 
contemporary,  and  when  they  represent  successive  dynasties, 
no  dependence  can  be  placed  even  in  such  systems  as  have 
been  most  carefully  elaborated, 

Bunsen,  in  his  great  work,  "  Egypt's  Place  in  Universal 
History,"  in  giving  a  "  Synopsis  of  the  Four  Ages  of  the 
World,"  claims  for  the  First  Age  from  20,000  to  10,000 
before  Christ;  and  for  the  Second,  from  10,000  to  2878  b.c: 
and  he  enters  into  details  regarding  the  Republican  Period, 
the  succession  of  sacerdotal  and  hereditary  kings,  and  the 
formation  of  Language.  Boeckh  is  singularly  exact  with  his 
chronological  system ;  its  first  period,  beginning  July  20, 
30,522  B.C.,  reaches  down  to  July  20,  5703  B.C.;  and  there- 
after, we  have  historic  times.  Rodier  makes  definite  history 
begin  24,000  b.c.  ;  but  he  assumes  a  previous  long  indefinite 
history,  in  which  the  dates  cannot  be  determined.     After  the 


248  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XII. 

year  24,000  d.c,  the  dates  of  great  events,  as  he  supposes, 
can  be  "  rigorously  verified." 

Let  any  one  take  the  pains  to  master  in  detail  these 
systems  of  chronology,  and  he  will  find  he  has  engaged  in  a 
most  profitless  task.  The  chronologists  do  not  agree  among 
themselves.  Who  is  to  be  preferred?  Whom  are  we  to 
follow?  Bunsen  has  said  of  Boeckh,  "We  beheve  that  no 
Egyptologer  has  ever  ventured  upon  so  many  and  such  bold 
alterations  in  the  dates  of  Manetho  as  Boeckh  was  obliged 
to  propose,  in  order  to  make  good  his  assumption  that 
Manetho's  chronology  was  an  artificial  system  of  applying 
cyclical  numbers  to  Egyptian  histoiy."  1 

Bunsen's  own  method  has  been  severely,  yet  justly,  handled 
by  no  less  an  authority  than  Sir  G.  C.  Le^Ais.  After  referring 
to  Sesostris  as  the  great  name  of  Egj-ptian  antiquity,  and  as 
dwarfing  into  insignificance  the  builders  of  the  Pyramids,  he 
adds, — "  Nevertheless,  his  historical  identity  is  not  proof 
against  the  dissolving  and  recompounding  processes  of  the 
Egyptological  method.  Bunsen  distributes  him  into  por- 
tions, and  identifies  each  portion  with  a  different  king. 
Sesostris,  as  we  have  stated,  stands  in  Manetho's  list  as  third 
king  of  the  twelfth  dynasty,  at  3320  B.C.;  and  a  notice  is 
appended  to  his  name,  clearly  identifying  him  with  the 
Sesostris  of  Herodotus.  Bunsen  first  takes  a  portion  of  him, 
and  identifies  it  \vith  Tosorthrus  (\vritten  Sesorthrus  by 
Eusebius),  the  second  king  of  the  third  dynasty,  whose  date 
is  5119  B.C., — being  a  difi'erence,  in  the  dates,  of  seventeen 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  years, — about  the  same  interval  as 
between  Augustus  Caesar  and  Napoleon.  He  then  takes 
another  portion,  and  identifies  it  with  Sesonchosis,  a  king  of 
the  twelfth  dynasty ;  a  tliird  portion  of  Sesostris  is  finally 


'Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  vol.  V.,  p.  119. 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  249 


assigned  to  himself.  It  seems  that  these  three  fragments 
make  up  the  entire  Sesostris."  ^ 

In  making  this  quotation  as  apphcable  to  Bunsen's  system 
of  Egyptian  chronology,  we  are  not  to  be  held  as  under- 
valuing his  wonderful  scholarship,  nor  the  noble  service 
which  he  has  rendered  to  Philosophy  and  Christianity  ;  but 
when  we  have  wandered  with  Egyptologists  through  cen- 
turies and  millenniums,  and  have  in  vain  sought  for  some 
solid  resting-place  in  historical  evidence, — when  we  have 
struggled  to  obtain  some  gleams  of  light  in  the  midst  of  an 
obscurity  which  is  never  broken  by  the  best  efforts  of  our 
guides,  we  heartily  say  "  Amen  "  to  Sir  G.  C.  Lewis's  con- 
clusion : — "  Egyi^tology  has  a  historical  method  of  its  own. 
It  recognises  none  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  evidence;  the 
extent  of  its  demands  upon  our  credulity  is  almost  unbounded. 
Even  the  writers  on  ancient  Italian  ethnology  are  modest 
and  tame  in  their  hypotheses,  compared  with  the  Egyptolo- 
gists. Under  their  potent  logic  all  identity  disappears  ; 
everything  is  subject  to  become  anything  but  itself  Suc- 
cessive dynasties  become  contemporary  dynasties ;  one  king 
becomes  another  king,  or  several  other  kings,  or  a  fraction 
of  another  king ;  one  name  becomes  another  name  ;  one 
number  becomes  another  number;  one  place  becomes  another 
place." " 

The  only  subject  remaining  to  be  noticed  as  having 
given  rise  to  much  discussion,  are  the  sculptured  figures  which 
represent  the  negro  head  and  features.  As  they  appear 
on  some  of  the  earliest  monuments,  it  has  been  assumed 
either  that  there  were  originally  distinct  races  of  men,  or 
that  there  was  a  greatly  longer  period  than  had  hitherto 

^  "  Survey  of  the  Astronomy  of  the  Ancients,"  by  Sir  G.  C.  Lewis, 

p.  369- 

2  "  Historical  Survey  of  the  Astronomy  of  the  Ancients,"  p.  368. 


250  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XII. 

been  supposed  between  the  Flood  and  the  first  evidences  of 
Egyptian  civilisation.  We  have  already  considered  the 
alleged  diversity  of  origin  for  the  human  race,  ^  and  have 
shown  the  doctrine  to  be  not  only  theoretically  unnecessary, 
but  unsupported  by  facts,  and  we  have  advocated  the 
opinion  that  a  much  longer  period  did  elapse  between  the 
Flood  and  the  visit  of  Abraham  to  Egypt  than  the  ordinary 
systems  of  chronology  have  allowed.  But  accepting  even 
the  period  given  in  the  Septuagint,  and  taking  into  account 
the  rapid  changes  which  are  produced  in  the  human  colour 
and  countenance  in  such  a  climate  as  that  prevailing  in 
parts  of  Africa,  no  special  difficulties  exist  about  the  facts 
represented  on  the  olden  monuments.  Whatever  reluctance 
may  be  felt  in  accepting  the  changes  within  that  briefer 
period,  may  be  removed  by  the  probability  of  a  longer  time 
having  run  its  course  than  the  common  chronology  has 
allowed. 

It  is  obviously  a  flagrant  violation  of  those  principles 
which  regulate  the  advance  of  nations,  to  suppose  that  six 
or  seven  thousand  years  were  necessary  to  give  the  degree 
of  civilisation  which  is  assumed  for  the  start  of  the  first 
dynasty  under  the  first  King  Menes.  We  do  not  require 
precision  or  definiteness  regarding  the  exact  number  of 
centuries  which  passed  between  the  Flood  and  the  entrance 
of  Abraham  into  Eg)^)!;  but  it  is  of  importance  to  ascertain 
definitely  the  harmony  of  the  facts  which  are  recorded  in 
Scripture,  and  referred  to  in  other  histories.  In  this  harmony 
alone  consists  the  strength  of  the  historical  argument. 

We  have  long  held  the  opinion  that  Christian  apologists 
have  shown  unnecessary  anxiety  as  to  exactness  in  dates. 
The  admitted  elasticity  or  differences  in  Bible  chronology, 

^  Chapter  viii. 


CHAP.  XII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  251 

should  make  us  willing  to  grant  a  liberal  margin.  What 
specially  concerns  us  is  the  harmony  of  histories.  AVhile  exact 
dates  are  in  their  own  place  most  valuable,  they  are  not  to 
supersede  the  cumulative  evidence  which  the  recognised 
harmony  of  profane  with  sacred  history  is  bringing  to  the 
side  of  the  Christian  apologist.  No  one  can  recall  the  per- 
petually recurring  depreciation  of  the  Bible  through  the 
greater  part  of  the  last  half  century,  on  the  plea  that  its 
historical  statements  were  either  mythical,  or,  when  vahd, 
had  been  written  out  after  other  histories  had  been  pubUshed, 
without  deep  thankfulness  for  the  striking  vindication  of  all 
its  statements  which  contemporary  histories  have  of  late 
been  giving. 

To  the  positive  evidence  for  the  truth  of  Scripture,  which 
has  been  in  many  instances  unexpectedly  adduced  through 
historical  and  philological  investigations,  we  shall  next  direct 
attention  as  fully  as  is  consistent  with  our  present  aim. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Bible  a  Light  among  Ancient  Records — Egyptian,  Chal- 
daa)i,  and  Assyrian  Testimonies  to  the  Truth  of  the 
Scriptures. 

' '  The  oldest  and  most  authentic  record  of  tlie  primeval  state  of  the 
world  is  unquestionably  the  Scripture  histoiy ;  and  though  the  origin  of 
its  early  inhabitants  is  only  traced  in  a  general  and  comprehensive  man- 
ner, we  have  sufficient  data  for  conjecture  on  some  interesting  points." 
— Sir  J.  G.  JVi/kinson. 

THE  Bible  unfolds  the  oldest  history  in  the  world.  No 
other  comes  within  sight  of  its  earliest  records.  The 
Pentateuch  was  written  by  Moses  a  thousand  years  before 
Herodotus  recited  his  history  at  the  public  games  of  Greece 
and  the  boy  Thucydides  wept  lest  he  might  fail  in  future 
rivalry,  and  more  than  t\velve  hundred  years  before  the  two 
EgyjDtian  writers,  Manetho  and  Eratosthenes,  endeavoured 
to  explain  the  revolutions  of  their  countr}\  Ctesias  and 
Berosus,  the  one  thirty  and  the  other  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later  than  Herodotus,  followed  him  with  their  some- 
what conflicting  accounts  of  Chaldean  and  Assyrian  struggles 
and  triumphs.  The  earliest  Greek  historian  was  thus  the 
contemporary  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah ;  and,  long  before 
Manetho  had  arranged  the  details  of  Egyptian  dynasties,  the 
l)rophet  Malachi  had  closed  the  Old  Testament  record. 
The  historical  distance  between  Moses  and  the  earliest  pro- 
fane writers  is  so  great  as  to  be  distinctly  visible,  and  therefore 
indisputable. 

i    The  references  in  the  Bible  to  Egypt  and  other  ancient 
monarchies,  although  often  merely  incidental,  are  yet  so 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  253 

minute,  and  at  times  so  comprehensive,  that,  if  erroneous, 
nothing  should  be  easier  than  to  expose  their  inaccuracy ; 
and  there  can  be,  perhaps,  on  the  other  hand,  no  more  con- 
vincing arginnent  for  the  historical  reliableness  of  the  Bible 
than  that  which  is  dependent  on  the  ascertained  correctness 
of  its  allusions  to  those  other  nations  with  which  the  Israelites 
were,  in  the  earliest  ages,  more  or  less  closely  associated. 

The  ancient  testimonies  which  monuments  and  written 
documents  have  most  opportunely  supplied  within  the  pre- 
sent century,  indeed,  in  a  large  measure,  within  the  present 
generation,  have  not  only  demolished  all  the  old  reasoning 
against  the  Bible,  but  have  so  vindicated  its  historical  trust- 
worthiness, that  "  Moses  and  the  Prophets  "  are  now  left  in 
undisturbed  possession  of  the  watchtowers  from  which,  many 
centuries  ago,  they  spoke  to  the  Israelites,  and  through  them 
to  the  whole  world.  The  very  first  historical  sections  of  the 
Bible,  so  long  held  in  contempt,  have  of  late  not  only  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  greatest  scholars,  but  have  won 
their  homage.  No  unbiassed  student  will  now  dare  to  scoff 
at  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  pronounce  it  meaningless. 

Although  Max  Miiller  has  claimed  for  the  Vedas  of  India 
a  like  antiquity  with  the  waitings  of  Moses,  he  admits  that 
they  are  not  history  ;i  and  neither  he,  with  all  his  en- 
thusiasm on  their  behalf,  nor  any  one  else,  will  now  assign 
to  them  an  ethnological  value  at  all  comparable  with  that 
of  the  Pentateuch.  In  the  oldest  histories  there  is  nothing 
that  approaches  in  universality  and  explicitness  the  tenth 
and  eleventh  chapters  of  Genesis.  To  the  tenth  chapter,  as 
an  ethnological  table,  scholars  of  opposite  religious  tendencies 
have  united  in  paying  homage.  '*  It  is  as  essential  to  an 
understanding  of  the  Bible,"  says  Professor  T.  Lewis,  "  and 


Chips  from  a  Gemian  Workshop, "  vol.  I.,  p.  5. 


254  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIII. 


of  history  in  general,  as  is  Homer's  Catalogue  in  the  Second 
Book  of  the  *  Iliad '  to  a  true  knowledge  of  the  Homeric 
poems  and  the  Homeric  times."  i  The  light  which  it  sheds 
on  the  origin  and  subsequent  relations  of  tribes  and  nations, 
has  not  only  continued  undimmed  by  distance,  but  is  be- 
coming brighter  as  accurate  investigation  is  gradually  re- 
moving the  haze  of  prejudice  or  apathy  by  which  it  has  been 
long  encircled. 

In  the  genealogy  which  it  outlines  there  is  nothing  mythical, 
nor  is  there  anything  which  is  specially  flattering  to  the 
Israelites.  There  is  no  national  vanity  displayed,  nor  is 
there  the  least  indication  of  what  might  have  been  in  part 
expected,  a  decided  preference  for  the  Shemitic  race.  No 
special  pre-eminence  is  assigned  them  in  a  history  which  is 
remarkable  for  its  mingling  of  minute  references  with  com- 
prehensive outlines.  In  closely  examining  the  tenth  chapter, 
we  find  such  diversity  of  history  as  precludes  exact  classifica- 
tion, but  its  general  statements  are  beginning  to  admit  of 
comparatively  easy  historical  exposition.  While,  for  ex- 
ample, in  some  of  the  lists  of  the  descendants  of  Noah,  the 
record  ends  with  the  second  generation,  in  others  it  extends 
to  the  third  or  fourth  generation;  and  while  in  some  instances 
the  founder  only  without  the  tribe  is  named,  in  otliers  the 
tribe  without  the  founder  is  given,  and  in  others  it  is  difiicult 
to  say  whether  the  founder  or  tlie  tribe  is  meant ;  but  through 
all  that  is  yet  inexplicable,  there  are  minute  historical  refer- 
ences of  so  much  importance  as  to  command  the  attention 
of  ethnologists.  In  the  study  of  the  earliest  monarchies, — 
the  Egyptian,  the  Chalda^an,  and  the  Assyrian, — historians 
thankfully  turn  to  the  Book  which  was  long  scoffed  at  by 
those  who  plumed  themselves  on  their  varied  scholarship.    It 

*  "  Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  p.  352. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  255 

sheds  so  much  light  on  the  first  movements  of  different 
peoples,  and  on  the  foundation  of  empires,  that  it  cannot  be 
repudiated  without  injury  to  historical  science. 

In  immediate  connection  with  the  origin  of  nations,  the 
sacred  historian  has  placed  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  the 
building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel ;  and  in  thus  accounting  for 
the  diversity  of  Languages,  the  Bible  deals  at  the  very  outset 
with  a  remarkable  subject  which  does  not  seem,  for  many 
ages,  to  have  awakened,  in  Greece  or  elsewhere,  the  least 
interest  or  attention.  In  the  simplicity  of  the  Bible  narrative 
is  its  strength.  There  is  no  date  for  the  building  of  the 
Tower.  Generally  viewed,  it  stands  as  the  boundary  between 
the  unity  of  the  primitive  world  and  the  conflicting  move- 
ments of  diverse  tribes  in  subsequent  ages.  It  explains  what 
otherwise  would  have  remained  inexplicable, — a  manifold 
diversity  of  language,  with  a  singular  unity  of  apparently 
original  structure.  The  moral  cause  of  the  dispersion  has 
been  thus  stated, — "  the  unity  which  had  hitherto  bound 
together  the  human  family  was  the  community  of  one  God, 
and  of  one  divine  worship.  This  unity  did  not  satisfy  them ; 
inwardly  they  had  already  lost  it ;  and  therefore  it  was  that 
they  strove  for  another.  There  is  therefore  an  ungodly 
unity  which  they  sought  to  reach  through  such  self-invented, 
sensual,  outward  means ;  whilst  the  very  thing  they  feared, 
they  predicted  as  their  punishment."  ^  Their  purpose  was 
defeated  by  the  confusion  of  their  tongues,  or  rather  by  the 
sudden  use  of  three  languages  instead  of  one.  The  intro- 
duction  of  three  tongues  or  languages,  would  cause  such  con- 
fusion as  would  put  an  end  to  the  undertaking.  It  would 
have  been  inconsistent  with  the  method  of  the  Divine  govern- 
ment, so  far  as  we  can  judge,  to  introduce  a  multitude  of 

'  "  Delitzsch,"  p.  310.       "  Lange's  Commentary,"  p.  353. 


25^  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

dialects,  and  make  each  man  unintelligible  to  his  com- 
panion ;  and  it  appears  from  the  record  itself  tliat  the  confusion 
was  orderly  or  regulated,  for  we  are  told  anticipatively  in  the 
tenth  chapter,  that  the  descendants  of  Japheth,  of  Ham,  and 
of  Shem,  were  divided  "  after  their  families,  after  their 
tongues,  in  their  lands,  after  their  nations."  Of  each  of  the 
three,  successively,  is  the  same  account  given,  i  Is  it  not 
very  significant  to  find  the  descendants  of  Japheth,  Ham, 
and  Shem  separately  described  as  peopling  the  earth  "  after 
their  families  and  after  their  tongues"  ?  From  these  families, 
it  would  seem,  have  all  the  languages  in  the  world  been 
gradually  evolved ;  and  is  it  not  perfectly  consistent  with 
this  Bible  statement  to  find  eminent  philologists  of  all  ranks 
concurring  in  the  conclusion,  that  the  languages  and  dialects 
of  the  world  are  reducible  to  three  distinct  families  or 
groups, — the  Ar}'an,  the  Semitic,  and  Turanian  ?  "  Com- 
parative Philology,"  says  Bunsen,  *'  would  have  been  com- 
pelled to  set  forth  as  a  postulate  the  supposition  of  some 
such  division  of  languages  in  Asia,  especially  on  the  ground 
of  the  relation  of  the  Egyptian  language  to  the  Shemitic, 
even  if  the  Bible  had  not  assured  us  of  the  trutli  of  this  great 
historical  event.  It  is  truly  wonderful — it  is  matter  of 
astonishment :  it  is  more  than  a  mere  astounding  fact,  that 
something  so  purely  historical,  and  yet  divinely  fixed, — 
something  so  conformable  to  reason,  and  yet  not  to  be  con- 
ceived of  as  a  mere  natural  de\elopment, — is  here  related 
to  us  out  of  the  oldest  primeval  period  ;  and  which  now,  for 
the  first  time,  through  the  new  science  of  philology,  has 
become  capable  of  being  historically  and  philosophically 
explained." 

The  tenth  and  eleventh   chapters   cannot  be  separated 

1  Genesis  x.  5,  20,  31,  32. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDIXG   LIGHTS.  257 


without  lessening  their  light.  They  are  both  singular  in 
their  delineation  of  secrets,  which  would  otherAvise  have  been 
for  ever  hidden, — their  historical  statements,  thougli  at  first 
flowing  separately,  afterwards  so  far  merge  into  each  other  as 
to  become  mutually  illustrative. 

In  their  combination  they  shed  light,  for  example,  on  those 
statements  which  long  perplexed  Bible  students  regarding 
the  origin  of  the  Chaldsean  Empire,  and  they  have  dispelled  a 
delusion  which  scholars  persisted  in  maintaining  against  the 
direct  teaching  of  the  Bible.  In  this  tenth  chapter, — "  the 
most  authentic  record  that  we  possess  for  the  affiliation  of 
nations,"  1  "  the  Book  of  the  generations  of  the  sons  of  Noah," 
— it  is  said,  "  The  sons  of  Ham  were  Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and 
Phut  and  Canaan  .  .  .  And  Cush  begat  Nimrod  .  .  .  And  the 
beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and  Accad, 
and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar."  What  is  here  note- 
worthy is,  that  while  Mizraim,  one  of  the  sons  of  Ham,  went 
to  Eg}'pt,  and  gave  to  the  country  its  name,  and  Phut 
inhabited  Central  Africa,  and  Canaan  peopled  Palestine,  the 
Babyhvtian  line  is  directly  connected  with  them.  They  are 
all  Cushite  by  blood.  "  It  is,"  says  Professor  Rawlinson, 
"  the  simplest  and  the  best  interpretation  of  this  passage,  to 
understand  it  as  asserting  that  the  four  races — the  Egyptians, 
I'^thiopians,  Libyans,  and  Canaanites — were  ethnically  con- 
nected, being  all  descended  from  Ham  ;  and  further,  that  the 
primitive  people  of  Babylon  were  a  sub-division  of  one  of  these 
races, — namely,  of  the  Cushite  or  Ethiopians,  connected  in 
some  degree  with  the  Canaanites,  Egyptians,  and  Libyans, 
but  still  more  closely  with  the  people  which  dwelt  upon  the 
Upper  Nile.''  - 

*  "Journal  of  Asiatic  Society,"  vol.  XV.,  p.  230. 
-  "Tlie  l-'ive  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  Eastern  World,"  by 
George  Rawlinson,  M.A.     Vol.  I.,  p.  64. 

S 


258  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

This  idea  of  an  Asiatic  Cush  or  Ethiopia,  was  scouted  by 
scholars  of  the  greatest  name,  as  created  by  the  imagination 
of  interpreters,  and  as  "the  child  of  their  despair."^  They 
limited  the  Biblical  Cush  to  Egypt  alone ;  but  this  was  done 
at  the  expense  of  Bible  histor)' ;  for  nothing  can  be  more 
direct  than  the  descent  from  Noah  of  Ham,  Cush,  and  Nim- 
rod;  and  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  the  declaration  that 
Nimrod  "  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the  earth  .  ,  .  and  the 
beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babel."  This  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Chaldsean  monarchy;  but  is  not  its  origin 
Hamitic,  and  also  Egyptian, — for  Ham  begat  Mizraim,  and 
Mizraim  in  Egypt  begat  Cush,  and  Cush  this  Nimrod,  who 
must  have  moved  eastward  to  found  an  Ethiopian  empire  in 
Asia?  There  can  be  no  escape  from  these  plain  historical 
issues  represented  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  question  is, 
What  support  have  they,  if  any,  from  other  sources  ?  Until 
very  recently,  the  evidence  was  not  forthcoming,  and  Christian 
interpreters  were  satisfied  by  giving  Egypt  to  the  descendants 
of  Ham,  and  assigning  them  a  subordinate  national  place  as 
the  "  servant  of  servants."  By  an  easy  or  superficial  reading 
of  Scripture,  the  general  inference  was  accepted  that  no  great 
Asiatic  empire  could  possibly  be  connected  with  the  de- 
scendants of  Ham,  because  of  the  supposed  extent  of  their 
prophetic  doom ;  but  the  fact  that  such  an  empire  did  exist, 
has  been  established  in  harmony  both  with  Bible  statements 
and  the  principles  of  prophetic  intcrjjretation,  by  a  series  of 
very  strong,  if  not,  indeed,  indisputable  proofs.  As  a  very 
general  outline  of  the  evidence  is  all  that  can  be  given  here, 
we  refer  for  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  subject  to  Professor 
Rawlinson's  invaluable  work,  "  The  Five  Great  Monarchies 
of  the  Ancient  Eastern  World."  - 

'  Bunsen's  "Philosophy  of  Universal  History,"  vol.  I.,  p.  191. 
"•  Vol.  I.,  Chapter  iii.,  pp.  47-60. 


CHAP.  Xlir.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  259 


I.  By  classical  and  other  traditions,  Ethiopians  have  been 
described  as  dwelling  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  as  being 
associated,  at  the  same  time,  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nile 
Valley.  ^  A\''ithout  attaching  much  importance  to  Homer's 
early  statement  by  itself,  regarding  the  Ethiopians  as 
** divided"  and  dwelling  " at  the  ends  of  the  earth  toAvards 
the  setting  and  the  rising  ^wx^"^  on  account  of  the  conflicting 
criticism  to  which  it  has  been  subjected;  it  must  be  conceded 
that  it  has  much  weight  when  connected  with  Strabo's  refer- 
ence to  the  Ethiopians  having  been  understood,  according 
to  the  "  old  opinion  "  of  the  Greeks,  to  occupy  the  south 
coast  of  both  Asia  and  Africa,  and  to  be  divided  by  the 
Persian  Gulf  into  two  branches, — the  Asiatic  and  African. 
This  reference  is  all  the  more  important,  because  taken  from 
Ephorus,  and  because  regarded  by  Strabo  himself  as  indica- 
tive only  of  the  ignorance  of  the  Greeks. 

Again,  tradition  connects  Memnon,  king  of  Ethiopia, 
on  the  one  hand,  with  the  founding  of  Susa  in  Asia,  and 
with  the  leadership  of  combined  Susianians  and  Ethiopians 
for  the  assistance  of  Priam  in  Troy;  and,  on  tlie  other  hand, 
witli  the  Ethiopians  on  the  Nile,  under  the  Egyptian  name 
of  king  Amunoph  III.,  whose  statue  became  known  as  "the 
Vocal  Memnon."  There  were  palaces  called  "  Memnonia  " 
both  in  Egypt  and  Susa,  and  the  supposition  that  Memnon 
built  them  is  very  plausible.  "  Memnon  thus  unites  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Ethiopians;  and  the  less  we  regard  him 
as  an  historical  personage,  the  more  must  we  view  him  as 
personifying  the  ethnic  identity  of  the  two  races."  - 

Other  traditions  show  that  the  Greeks  had,  at  one  time,  an 
unquestioning  belief  in  an  Asiatic  Ethiopia ;  and  whatever 


^  Homer's  "Odyssey,"  I.,  23,  24. 
2 ' '  The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  World, "  vol.  I. ,  pp.  59, 60. 


26o  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 


allusions  have  been  made  to  the  subject  by  the  earliest 
historians,  have  confirmed  that  belief.  Hesiod,  Herodotus, 
and  Eusebius  have  been  cited  as  witnesses  to  the  same  pre- 
vailing ideas  ;  but  there  were  others  besides  the  Greeks — as, 
for  instance,  the  Armenians — who  cherished  similar  tradi- 
tions ;  and  although  these  Ande-spread  conuctions  varied, 
and,  considered  separately,  may  seem  to  have  little  weight, 
yet,  when  associated,  they  constitute  valid  proof  that,  in 
accordance  with  Scripture,  the  Chaldseans  were  originally 
Hamites,  not  Shemites, — Ediiopians,  not  Aramaeans. 

2.  As  the  evidence  from  tradition,  which  we  have  placed 
in  the  fore-ground,  was  long  almost  balanced  by  conflicting 
statements  from  other  sources,  scholars  were  much  divided 
in  opinion  ;  but  the  question  has  been  conclusively  settled 
in  favour  of  the  Bible,  by  unexpected  proofs  from  another 
quarter.  By  the  results  of  research  in  languages,  what  some 
thought  was  only  apparently  establislied  by  concurrent 
traditions,  has  been  placed  altogether  beyond  dispute. 
After  the  explorations  in  Assyrian  mounds  had  yielded  to 
the  student  of  history  many  precious  documents,  with  ample 
evidence  of  a  later  well-defined  Babylonian  language,  the 
smaller  and  less  attractive  mounds  of  "  Chaldasa  Proper " 
were  carefully  searched  ;  and,  to  the  surprise  and  delight  of 
every  philologist,  there  turned  up  the  remains  of  another  form 
of  language,  differing  from  that  which  the  Assyrian  mounds 
had  previously  revealed,  and  s]io\\'ing  closer  relations  to  the 
older  language  of  Susiana,  whose  early  mhabitants  tradition 
had  described  as  Hamitic.  Its  vocabulary,  according  to  Sir 
H.  Rawlinson,  "is  decidedly  Cushite  or  Ethiopian,"  and  the 
modern  languages  to  which  it  makes  the  nearest  approaches 
are  those  of  Southern  Arabia  and  Abyssinia, — the  old  tradi- 
tions have  thus  been  confirmed  by  comparative  philolog\ , 
and  both  are  side-lights  to  Scripture."      A   Chaldrean    or 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  261 


Babylonian  kingdom  existed  long  before  another  empire 
was  founded  by  the  descendants  of  Shem,  and  thus  "  An 
Eastern  Ethiopia,  instead  of  being  the  invention  of  bewildered 
ignorance,  is  proved  to  be  a  reality,  which,  henceforth,  it 
will  be  the  extreme  of  Scepticism  to  question  ;  and  the 
primitive  race  which  bore  sway  in  Chaldsea  proper  is  de- 
monstrated to  have  belonged  to  this  ethnic  type."  ^ 

The  very  earliest  historical  announcements  in  Scripture, 
after  having  been  long  twisted  out  of  their  natural  course  by 
Christian  as  well  as  by  other  interpreters,  have  at  last  not 
only  been  freed  from  perversions,  but  have  received  the  most 
signal  acknowledgment  of  their  perfect  accuracy.  The  brief, 
yet  definite,  Bible  intimations  regarding  the  origin  and  the 
relations  of  the  Egyptian,  Chald?ean,  and  Assyrian  empires, 
have  not  only  had  no  parallel  in  any  other  history,  but  they 
have  become  the  key  to  open  what  would  otherwise  have 
been  for  ever  hidden  or  obscure. 

In  passing  over  some  of  the  more  general  intimations  in 
the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis, — as,  for  instance,  those  referring 
to  Shem,  Elam,  Eber,  and  Asshur, — we  omit  much  that  is 
valuable  in  evidence,  that  we  may  have  the  opportunity  of 
more  fully  noticing  those  broader  statements  on  which  com- 
paratively recent  discoveries  have  shed  much  light. 

Our  first  view  of  Egypt  is  obtained  when  Abraham,  who 
had  been  living  a  patriarchal  chief  in  Palestine,  was  con- 
strained by  famine  to  seek  support  in  Egvpt  for  both  himself 
and  his  household.  And  we  find  that,  even  in  that  early 
age,  there  was  a  king  Pharaoh  ;  that  Eg>'pt  had  a  settled 
Government,  with  "  princes "  who  acted  as  the  king's 
subordinates;  and  that  the  country  was  rich  enough  in 
agricultural  resources  to  provide  assistance  to  neighbouring 


1  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  I.,  p.  65. 


262  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

tribes  in  tlie  time  of  famine.  That  these  facts  are  in 
harmony  with  profane  history  no  one  can  doubt,  who 
remembers  that,  even  then,  some  of  the  great  Pyramids 
were  in  existence  as  witnesses  indirectly  confirming  the 
Bible  reference  to  a  comparatively  advanced  civilisation. 

A  remarkable  historical  sketch  of  the  capture  of  Lot, 
Abraham's  nephew,  and  of  his  rescue  from  the  hands  of 
Chedorlaomer,  king  of  Elam,  although  assisted  by  his  five 
vassal  kings,  reveals  the  rise  of  a  new  or  Elamitic  power, 
which  was  displacing  the  old  Babylonian  or  Hamitic  king- 
dom; and  of  the  overthrow  or  breaking  up  of  this  early 
kingdom,  decided  indications  have  been  given  in  documents 
recently  disinterred  from  the  mounds  of  Mesopotamia.  In 
them,  incursions  and  plunderings  have  been  recorded,  which 
were  the  evident  forerunners  of  greater  distresses  and  of 
ultimate  ruin,  and  the  recovery  of  tablets  is  expected,  which 
will  determine  the  date  of  Abraham's  contest  with  Che- 
dorlaomer, and,  consequently,  of  his  visit  to  Eg>'pt ;  and  to 
such  recovery  Bible  students  look  not  with  anxiety,  but  with 
the  most  hopeful  interest.  About  200  years  after  the  time 
of  Abraham,  the  history  of  Joseph  brings  Egypt  under  re- 
view, \vith  a  pictorial  vividness  which  has  its  parallel  in  no 
other  record  for  at  least  more  than  a  thousand  years.  When 
we  combine  the  scattered  references  in  the  later  chapters  of 
Genesis,  they  represent  a  remarkably  compact  organisation. 
The  light  falls  on  no  strictly  primitive  people,  nor  barbarous 
customs,  but  on  a  very  highly  civilised  community,  skilled 
in  agriculture,  social  in  habit,  and  singularly  accomplished 
sin  various  branches  of  art.  The  monarchy  which  we  noted 
in  Abraham's  time  continues,  and  the  king  still  bears  the 
title  of  Pharaoh.  He  is  absolute,  or  nearly  so,  committing 
men  to  prison,  and  releasing  them;  or,  if  he  please,  ordering 
their  executions,  appointing  officers  over   the  whole  land, 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  263 

and  taxing  it  apparently  at  his  pleasure  ;  raising  a  foreigner 
suddenly  to  the  second  position  in  the  kingdom,  and  re- 
quiring all,  without  exception,  to  render  him  obedience.  "At 
the  same  time,  the  king  has  counsellors,  or  ministers, 
elders  of  his  house,  and  others  whose  advice  he  asks,  and 
without  whose  sanction  he  does  not  seem  to  act  in  important 
matters."  He  had  a  body  guard  under  "a  captain,"  a 
'•  chief  confectioner,"  a  "  chief  cup-bearer."  He  rides  in  a 
chariot,  and  all  pay  him  homage.  There  are  distinct  classes 
of  soldiers,  priests,  physicians,  sacred  scribes,  magicians,  and 
herdsmen.  As  betokenmg  the  stage  of  civilisation  which 
had  been  reached,  there  is  mention  made  of  fine  linen, 
golden  chains,  silver  drinking-cups,  waggons,  chariots,  em- 
balming, and  coffins.  In  addition  to  these  glimpses,  we 
have  it  stated  that  they  carried  burdens  on  the  head ;  that 
they  sat  at  meat,  and  did  not  recline,  as  was  the  common 
custom  in  the  East ;  and  that  "  every  shepherd  was  an 
abomination  unto  the  Egyptians."^  All  these  peculiarities 
are  fully  represented  in  the  monuments,  but  especially  is 
the  last  made  prominent.  Sir  J.  G.  AVilkinson  tells  us  that 
the  artists  delighted  on  all  occasions  in  representing  the 
shepherds  as  "dirty  and  unshaven  ;"  and  that,  on  the  tombs 
near  the  Pyramids  of  Geezeh,  they  are  "caricatured  as  a 
deformed  and  unseemly  race."  - 

A  fuller  and  minuter  series  of  facts  will  be  found  in  a 
most  instructive  little  volume  by  Professor  Rawlinson, 
who  adds, — "  It  may  be  broadly  stated  that,  in  this  entire 
description,  there  is  not  a  single  fraction  which  is  not  in 
harmony  with  what  we  know  of  the  Egypt  of  this  remote 
period  from  other  sources.     Nay,  more,  almost  every  point 


'  Genesis,  chapters  xxxvii.  to  xlvii. 

^  "Ancient  Egyptians,"  vol.  II.,  p.  16, 


264  BLEXDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

in  it  is  confirmed,  either  by  the  classical  uTiters,  by  the 
monuments,  or  by  both."  ^ 

In  the  Book  of  Exodus  there  is  a  very  remarkable  history, 
some  of  the  details  of  which  have  received  striking  confinna- 
tion  in  monuments,  and  by  profane  writers.  They  afford 
unmistakable  indications  of  the  departure  of  the  Israelites. 
There  are  passages  in  the  ^\'ritings  of  Manetho  and 
Chseremon,  Egyptian  priests  of  high  scholarship,  which, 
though  somewhat  confused  and  contradictory,  are  yet  so 
specific  as  to  the  names  of  Moses  and  Joseph,  and,  in  some 
instances,  so  minute  as  to  facts,  that  the  following  con- 
clusions may  be  held  established  : — ( i )  That  there  was  a 
tradition  of  an  Exodus  from  Egypt  of  persons  whom  they 
regarded  as  unclean  ;  (2)  that  they  connected  this  Exodus 
with  the  names  of  Joseph  and  Moses ;  and  (3)  that  they 
made  Canaan  their  country,  and  placed  the  event  in  the 
reign  of  Amenophis,  son  of  Rameses,  about  the  year 
B.C.   1400.- 

The  indirect  testimonies  to  the  historical  truth  of  Exodus 
as  dependent  on  the  usages  of  Egypt,  are,  in  some  respects, 
more  valuable  than  the  more  positive  statements  which  ha\e 
been  adduced.  Among  these,  there  is  mention  made  of 
brick-making  without  straw,  under  taskmasters,  who  made 
the  lives  of  the  Israelites  bitter  with  hard  bondage  ;  of  the 
use  of  papyrus  for  boats,  furnaces,  kneading-troughs,  hand- 
mills  ;  of  the  use  of  chariots  in  war ;  of  the  king  leading  his 
horses  to  battle ;  of  the  king  and  his  princes  fighting  from 
chariots ;  of  the  king  hearing  complaints  in  person ;  in 
short,  the  allusions  to  public,  social,  and  domestic  modes  of 
life  in  that  early  period  are  so  numerous  in  Scripture,  and 


^  "Historical  IllusU"ations  of  the  Old  Testament,"  pp.  41,  42, 
'  "  Historical  Illustrations,"  pp.  59,  61. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  265 

have  been  found  to  be  so  literally  exact,  that  the  reasoning 
of  rationalists,  on  the  plea  that  they  were  all  mythical,  has 
been  generally  abandoned  ;  and  we  might  at  once  proceed 
to  another  section  in  this  field  of  inquiry,  were  it  not  that  it 
may  be  of  advantage  to  some  Bible  students  to  notice  two 
or  three  of  the  more  prominent  facts  which  rise,  distinct  and 
columnar,  in  the  parallel  lines  of  sacred  and  secular  records. 

From  three  to  four  hundred  years  after  the  Exodus,  Egypt 
in  the  west,  and  the  other  kingdoms  in  the  east,  had  little 
or  no  direct  intercourse  with  the  Israelites,  who  were  under 
the  necessity,  during  that  long  period,  of  struggling  with  the 
Ammonites,  Moabites,  Amorites,  Canaanites,  and  Philistines, 
— races  whose  literature,  if  they  had  any,  has  been  lost. 
Egypt  and  Assyria,  during  the  same  period,  had  great 
military  resources ;  but,  as  is  evident  from  their  records,  they 
had  undertaken  no  expeditions  which  brought  them  into 
contact  with  the  territory  of  the  Israelites.  They  therefore 
say  nothing  regarding  them,  and  this  silence  is  in  accord  %vith 
the  absence,  in  the  Israelitish  history,  of  all  reference  to 
either  Egypt  or  Assyria.  This  is  one  of  those  incidental 
proofs  of  the  historical  reliableness  of  Scripture,  the  value  of 
which  it  would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate. 

After  the  Exodus,  the  first  and  most  outstanding  fact  is 
the  grandeur  of  Solomon's  reign,  and  the  extent  of  his 
dominion,  as  it  ranged  from  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  the 
Euphrates.  Under  David  the  kingdom  was  greatly  extended, 
but  by  Solomon  it  was  consolidated  and  adorned.  Between 
two  hitherto  powerful  and  menacing  monarchies,  the  Hebrew 
kingdom  rose  rapidly  in  splendour,  and  for  more  than  half 
a  century  dazzled  them  both  into  dimness.  To  those 
accustomed  to  study  only  the  slow  growth  of  Western  nations, 
that  period  may  seem  short  in  the  history  of  empires ; 
but  in  the  East,  such  sudden,  outcomes  of  imperial  power 


266  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 


and  splendour  were  not  uncommon.  WTiile  admitting  this, 
it  seems  almost  incredible  that  this  comparatively  weak  and 
insignificant  kingdom  should  have  attained  such  supremacy ; 
and  it  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  the 
two  great  monarchies  on  each  side  of  Solomon's  dominions 
had  been  weakened  by  internal  troubles  or  by  foreign  aggres- 
sion, or  had  sunk  into  that  national  effeminacy  which  luxury 
almost  invariably  creates.  Had  either  Assyria  or  Egypt  been 
as  po\verful  as  formerly,  the  Judjean  triumphs  in  David's 
reign,  and  the  peaceful  grandeur  of  Solomon's  sway  would 
not  have  been  possible.  The  greatness  of  the  Hebrew 
kingdom,  therefore,  presupposes  corresponding  weakness  in 
both  Egypt  and  Assyria ;  and  it  was  so.  Evidence  has  been 
obtained  from  the  monuments  of  both  countries,  which 
clearly  proves  that,  at  the  very  time  when  the  Israelitish 
power  was  in  the  ascendant,  they  were  both  under  a  cloud 
and  enfeebled.  For  nearly  two  centuries  their  historians  are 
silent,  and  the  very  names  of  their  monarchs  remain  un- 
known. Egypt  began  to  wane  about  1200  B.C.,  and  Assyria 
about  1 100  B.C.;  but  about  990  li.c.  they  had  largely 
recovered  their  lost  position.  It  was  throughout  this  period 
the  triumphs  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy  were  gradually 
achieved ;  they  fit  exactly  into  its  circumstances ;  and 
through  the  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  gloom  which  hovered 
on  both  sides  of  Palestine,  the  student  of  history  can  easily 
discern  the  splendour  of  Solomon's  reign.  In  the  arts  and 
architecture  of  that  Hebrew  kingdom,  he  can  see  the  image, 
or  rather  the  repetition,  of  all  that  was  best  in  Egyptian  and 
Assyrian  models.  The  niins  of  Nineveh  and  Palestine 
are  mutually  illustrative,  and  they  explain  the  magnificent 
edifices  with  which  Solomon  adorned  Jerusalem.  He 
gathered  from  the  East  and  the  West  all  that  was  imposing 
in  outline,  as  well  as  all  that  was  intricate  or  delicate  in 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  267 

art ;  and  reproduced  them  in  felicitous  combinations.  The 
works  in  which  he  excelled  could  only  have  been  accom- 
plished in  times  of  peace,  and  when  access  was  easy  to  those 
great  buildings  which  were  hallowed  by  antiquity,  and  en- 
riched by  all  that  was  attractive  to  what  at  that  period  was 
"modern  taste."  The  feebleness  of  Assyria  and  Egypt, 
accounts  for  their  comparative  obsciurity,  and  not  only  for  the 
general  extension  of  the  Hebrew  dominions,  but  for  the 
possibility  of  his  caiTying  on  and  completing,  in  presence  of 
naturally  jealous  monarchs,  those  great  works  which  are  thus 
described  in  the  Bible, — "  And  it  came  to  pass,  at  the  end 
of  twenty  years,  wherein  Solomon  had  built  the  house  of  the 
Lord  and  his  own  house,  that  the  cities  whicli  Huram  had 
restored  to  Solomon,  Solomon  built  them,  and  caused  the 
children  of  Israel  to  dwell  there.  .  .  .  And  he  built 
Tadmor  in  the  wilderness,  and  all  the  store  cities  which  he 
built  in  Hamath.  Also,  he  built  Beth-horon  the  upper,  and 
Beth-horon  the  nether,  fenced  cities  with  walls,  gates,  and 
bars  ;  and  Baalath,  and  all  the  store  cities  that  Solomon  had, 
and  all  the  chariot  cities,  and  the  cities  of  the  horsemen,  and 
all  that  Solomon  desired  to  build  in  Jerusalem,  and  in 
Lebanon,  and  throughout  all  the  land  of  his  dominion."^ 

The  ruins  of  Tadmor — or  Palmyra,  as  Alexander  the 
Great  named  it — are  to  this  day  "  the  wonder  "  of  travellers 
in  the  East ;  and  as  this  city  was  within  about  twenty  miles 
of  the  Euphrates,  it  is  evident  that  Assyria  had  lost  its 
jealousy  or  its  strength,  for  otherwise  Solomon  could  not 
have  found  there  opportunity  and  scope  for  such  a  magnifi- 
cent architectural  enterprise.  Judging  from  the  facts  re- 
corded in  the  Bible,  the  student  of  history  was  led  to  infer 
that  both  Assyria  and  Egypt  were  at  that  time  weak,  and 

^  II.  Chronicles  viii.  1-6. 


268  V       BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

this  opinion  has  received  abundant  confirmation  from  such 
records  as  these  two  countries  have  of  late  suppHed. 

Towards  the  close  of  Solomon's  reign,  Egypt  began  to 
revive  under  the  vigorous  administration  of  Shishak,  the 
"Sheshonk"  of  the  hieroglyphics,  and  the  Sesonchis  of 
Manetho.  Jeroboam  having  fallen  under  the  suspicion  and 
displeasure  of  Solomon,  fled  to  him  for  protection.  "Solomon 
sought,  therefore,  to  kill  Jeroboam;  and  Jeroboam  arose,  and 
fled  into  Egypt,  unto  Shishak  king  of  Egypt,  and  was  in 
Egypt  until  the  death  of  Solomon."  ^  After  Solomon's 
death,  when  Rehoboam,  his  son,  was  running  his  career  of 
despotism  and  folly,  Shishak,  as  the  Bible  has  told  us,  "  came 
up  against  Jerusalem,  with  12,000  chariots,  60,000  horse, 
men,  and  people  without  number."  The  date  is  very  dis- 
tinctly given, — "  And  it  came  to  pass,  that.,  in  the  fifth  year 
of  king  Rehoboam,  Sliishak  king  of  Egypt  came  up  against 
Jerusalem,  because  they  had  transgressed  against  the  Lord." 
..."  And  he  took  the  fenced  cities  which  pertained  to 
Judah,  and  came  to  Jerusalem."  .  .  .  "So  Shishak  king 
of  Egypt  came  up  against  Jerusalem,  and  took  away  the 
treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  treasures  of  the 
king's  house  ;  he  took  all :  he  carried  away  also  the  shields 
of  gold  which  Solomon  had  made."-' 

Two  things  are  here  worthy  of  special  notice, — the  first  is, 
that  in  this  distinct  statement  as  to  time,  we  have  the  first 
fi.xed  point  which  historians  can  use  for  the  establishment  of 
chronological  data ;  and  the  second  is,  that  this  portion  of 
Bible  history  has  received  the  fullest  confirmation,  by  its 
narrative  having  been  reproduced,  with  wonderful  exactness, 
in  the  only  memorial  of  Shishak's  invasion  which  is  known 
to  be  in  existence.     It  was  found  in  one  of  the  courts  of  the 

1  I.  Kings  xi.  40.  '  11.  Chronicles  .\ii.  2,  4,  and  9. 


CHAP.  XTII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  269 

great  Palace  of  Kamac  at  Thebes.  In  the  inscription  there 
is  a  hieroglyph,  which  Champollion  has  thus  translated, — 
"  Pharaoh,  governor  of  Lower  Egypt,  approved  of  the  sun, 
the  beloved  of  Amoun — Sheshonk  "  (Shishak). 

A  Jewish  figure  is  represented,  as  part  of  Shishak's 
triumphal  procession,  with  a  tablet  on  his  breast,  and  a 
hieroglyph  which  has  been  thus  rendered,  "loudah  Malek," 
— i.e..,  King  of  Judah.  That  itself  is  a  very  decided  testimony 
to  the  truth  of  Scripture  from  an  unexpected  quarter,  and  it 
is  still  further  borne  out  in  the  inscriptions  connected  \nth 
the  same  history,  in  which  there  are  represented  the  chiefs 
of  more  than  thirty  nations;  and  the  names  in  the  list  of  the 
"fenced  cities'"  taken  by  Shishak  have  their  counterpart  in  a 
number  of  the  cities  of  Judah.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  list  of 
Shishak's  captive  cities,  there  are  some  which  might  be  sup- 
posed to  be  favourable  to  Jeroboam,  as  their  territory  is  that  of 
the  Ten  Tribes,  and  they  should,  of  course,  have  had  Shishak's 
protection ;  but  the  fact  is  only  an  additional  proof  of  Scrip- 
ture history,  for  in  the  territory  of  the  Ten  Tribes  there  were 
those,  chiefly  among  the  Levites,  who  favoured  Rehoboam, 
and  resisted  Shishak's  protege.  It  is  evident  that  Shishak 
had  passed  into  the  territory  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  and  had 
discriminatively  punished  those  towns  and  ''suburbs"  of 
wliicli  the  Levites  might  be  said  to  have  possession.  Tlieir 
preference  for  Rehoboam  is  thus  noticed  in  II.  Chronicles 
xi.  13,  14, — "And  the  priests  and  the  Levites  that  were  in 
all  Israel  resorted  to  him  (Rehoboam)  out  of  all  their  coasts; 
for  ///('  Le-i'ites  left  their  siihin-hs  and  t/ieir possession,  and  came 
to  Judah  and  Jerusalem ;  for  Jeroboam  and  his  sons  had  cast 
them  off  from  executing  the  priest's  office  unto  the  Lord." 
This  inscription,  which  has  at  last  yielded  up  all  its  truth, 
has,  by  its  minute  record  of  the  cities  taken,  incidentally 
confirmed  the  brief  history  of  Shishak's  movements  as  it  has 
been  given  in  the  Bible. 


270  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  XIII. 

Without  further  followng  this  twofold  record  of  the 
Egyptian  connection  with  Palestine,  we  may  notice  the  recent 
very  singular  evidences  of  the  truth  of  Bible  history  which 
has  attracted  the  attention  of  the  civilised  world,  through 
the  discovery  (i)  of  the  cities  of  Bashan,  and  (2)  of  the 
MoABiTE  Stone. 

I.  Few  can  have  read  the  follo^\^ng  verses  in  Deuteronomy 
without  wonder,  or  without  the  notion  that  a  mistake  had 
occurred  in  transcribing  the  numbers.  "So  the  Lord  our  God 
delivered  into  our  hands  Og  also,  the  king  of  Bashan,  and  all 
his  people;  and  we  smote  him,  until  none  was  left  to  him  re- 
maining. And  we  took  all  his  cities  at  that  time ;  there  was 
not  a  city  which  we  took  not  from  them,  threescore  cities, 
all  the  region  of  Argob,  the  kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan.  All 
these  cities  were  fenced  with  high  walls,  gates,  and  bars ; 
beside  unwalled  towns  a  great  many."^  '■'Sixty  Cities!!" 
"Fenced,  and  with  high  walls !"  "Impossible,  it  surely  means 
si.\,  or  at  most  sixteen.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  to  have 
sixty  cities  within  the  bounds  of  so  small  a  territory!"  Such, 
doubtless,  have  been  the  thoughts,  if  not  the  expressions,  of 
many  humble  yet  earnest  readers  of  the  Bible.  "Often, 
when  reading  the  passage,"  says  Dr.  Porter,  in  his  fascinat- 
ing work,  "  I  used  to  think  that  some  strange  statistical 
mystery  hung  over  it,  for  how  could  a  province  measuring 
not  more  than  thirty  miles  by  twenty,  support  such  a 
number  of  fortified  cities,  especially  when  the  greater  part 
of  it  was  a  wilderness  of  rocks  ?  But  mysterious,  incredible 
as  this  seemed,  on  the  spot,  with  my  own  eyes,  /  hixvc  seen 
that  it  is  literally  true.  The  cities  are  there  to  this  day. 
Some  of  them  retain  the  ancient  names  recorded  in  the 
Bible.    The  boundaries  of  Argob  are  as  clearly  defined  by  the 


>  Deuteronomy  iii.  3-5. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  271 

hand  of  nature  as  those  of  our  own  island  home.  These 
ancient  cities  of  Bashan  contain,  probably,  the  very  oldest 
specimens  of  architecture  now  existing  in  the  world."  ^ 
Although  some  have  doubted  the  antiquity  of  these  buildings, 
the  evidence  is  in  favour  of  Dr.  Porter's  conclusions  ;  but 
apart  from  the  question  of  age,  the  crowding  together  of  so 
many  cities,  which  seemed  impossible,  has  been  established  as 
a  fact,  and  it  therefore  nullifies  the  reasoning  of  the  Sceptic. 

Although  within  comparatively  easy  reach  of  European 
travellers,  Bashan  was  till  lately  comparatively  unknown, 
and  Christians  read  of  it  in  the  Bible  with  half  listless 
wonder.  Although  not  named  in  the  New  Testament,  its 
scenes  are  inwrought  with  its  history.  "  It  was  down  the 
western  slopes  of  Bashan's  high  table-land  that  the  demons, 
expelled  by  Jesus  from  the  poor  man,  chased  the  herd  of 
swine  into  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  It  was  on  the  grassy  slopes  of 
Bashan's  hills  that  the  multitudes  were  twice  miraculously  fed 
by  the  merciful  Saviour.  And  that  *  high  mountain '  to 
which  he  led  Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  on  whose 
summit  they  beheld  the  glories  of  the  transfiguration,  was 
that  very  Hermon  which  forms  the  boundary  of  Bashan."  - 
It  is  strange  that  desolation  so  complete  as  that  by  which 
the  cities  of  Bashan  have  been  overwhelmed,  should  have  been 
so  long  concealed.  The  "  poet  prophets  "  of  Israel  have 
described  the  stateliness  of  its  oaks,  the  magnificence  of  its 
scenery,  the  luxuriance  of  its  pastures,  the  fertility  of  its 
plains,  and  the  qualities  of  its  flocks  and  herds ;  and 
modern  travellers  have  confirmed  to  the  letter  the  accuracy 
of  their  glowing  delineations. 

While  the  varied  aspects  of  Bashan's  landscapes  continue 


1  "  The  Giant  Cities  of  Bashan  and  Syria's  Holy  Places,"  by  the  Rev. 
J.  M.  Porter,  M.A.     1869.     pp.  I3„  14.         'Ibid.,  p.  16. 


272  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

in  the  main  unchanged,  its  cities  are  deserted,  and  the  still- 
ness of  death  i>ervades  them.  While  the  ancient  cities  and 
villages  of  western  Palestine,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have 
been  so  destroyed,  that  not  one  stone  remains  above  another, 
and  in  some  instances  their  very  site  is  unkiio7i<)i,  and 
while  Jerusalem  itself  has  lost  its  ancient  architectural 
grandeur,  "  the  state  of  Bashan  is  totally  different ;  it  is 
literally  crowded  with  towns  and  large  villages ;  and  though 
the  vast  majority  of  them  are  deserted,  they  are  not  ruined . 
.  .  .  Many  of  the  houses  in  the  ancient  cities  of  Bashan 
are  perfect,  as  if  only  finished  yesterday.  The  walls  are 
sound,  the  roofs  unbroken,  the  doors  and  even  the  \\'indow- 
shutters  in  their  places."  It  is  astonishing  to  learn  that,  in 
some  of  these  ancient  cities,  from  two  to  five  hundred  liouses 
have  been  found  perfect,  but  without  a  solitary  inhabitant. 
From  the  battlements  of  the  Castle  of  Salcah,  Dr.  Porter 
counted  no  fewer  than  thirty  towns  and  villages  dotting  the 
vast  plain,  many  of  them  perfect  as  when  first  built,  and 
"  yet,  for  more  than  five  centuries,  there  has  not  been  an 
inhabitant  in  one  of  them." 

All  that  has  been  recently  discovered  has  completely 
established  the  descriptions  in  the  writings  of  Moses  and 
the  Prophets.  To  the  very  letter  their  statements  have  been 
vindicated  by  architectural  remains,  which  are  without  a 
parallel.  In  how  many  instances,  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
have  cities  been  founded,  have  flourished,  been  demolished, 
rebuilt,  and  a  second  time  swept  off,  so  that  their  very  site  is 
forgotten  and  lost?  And  how  has  Bashan  escaped?  Why 
are  the  cities,  their  walls,  and  their  houses  still  perfect,  their 
stone  roofs  unmoved,  and  their  stone  doors  hanging  on  their 
hinges  ?  Why  are  the  streets  tenantless  and  silent  as  a  city 
of  the  dead  ?  The  purposes  of  God  in  all  this  we  cannot 
know  ;  but  may  we  not  believe  it  to  be  at  least  probable 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  273 

that,  in  His  providence,  they  have  been  preserved  to  be 
\vitnesses  to  the  truth  of  this  portion  of  His  blessed  Word, 
when  scepticism  or  infidelity  should  be  casting  discredit  on 
its  statements  regarding  this  strange  giant  people  and  their 
crowding  cities  ? 

2.  After  the  kingdom  of  Israel  had  been  con\'iilsed  by 
successive  revolutions,  and  disgraced  by  the  assassination  of 
two  of  its  kings,  "All  Israel  made  Omri,  the  captain  of  the 
host,  king  over  Israel."  ^  No  sooner  did  he  gain  the  throne 
than  he  began  to  rule  with  an  unrelenting  hand,  until  he  at 
last  succeeded  in  so  consolidating  his  kingdom,  with  Samaria 
as  its  capital,  that  he  won  the  respect  of  neighbouring 
monarchs,  and  Assyrian  records  bear  testimony  to  the 
homage  paid  him.  To  these  records  we  can  only  allude,  as 
our  object  is,  in  the  meantime,  to  fix  attention  on  that 
strange  witness  to  the  truth  of  Scripture,  whose  voice  in  the 
solitudes  of  Moab  unexpectedly  aroused  the  scholarship,  the 
scepticism,  and  the  Christianity  of  the  world.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  the  discovery  of  "  the  Moabite  Stone,"  on 
the  site  of  the  ancient  Dibon,  was  first  made,  are  too 
generall}'  knomi  to  require  here  a  detailed  account.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Klein,  a  Prussian,  employed  by  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  first  saw  it,  when  it  was  unbroken  ;  but 
no  sooner  did  the  Arabs  observe  the  peculiar  interest  which 
was  taken  in  it,  than,  jealous  of  the  interference  of  the 
Franks  and  Turks,  they  broke  it,  and  concealed  its  fragments. 
By  the  judicious  and  persevering  efforts  of  Captain  Warren, 
R.E.,  the  agent  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  the 
fragments  have  been  recovered.  The  inscription  is  in  the 
Phccnician  character,  and  the  language  itself  is  scarcely  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  Hebrew.     The  translation  which  has 


^  I.  Kings  xvi.  16. 
T 


274  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

been  published  represents  the  contest  of  the  Moabites  with 
Omri,  and  their  ultimate  triumph.  Between  Israel  and  Moab, 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  there  was  a  perpetual  struggle 
during  the  thirty-four  years'  successive  reigns  of  Omri  and 
his  son  Ahab  ;  and  to  this  the  inscription  very  clearly  refers. 
Moab  had  for  a  long  period  the  worst  of  it,*  and  paid  heavy 
tribute  to  Omri  and  Ahab ;  but  Mesha  put  an  end  to  it. 
The  Bible  thus  speaks  of  the  oppressive  tax  paid, — "  And 
Mesha  king  of  Moab  was  a  sheep-master,  and  rendered  unto 
the  king  of  Israel  100,000  lambs  and  100,000  rams,  with  the 
wool.  But  it  came  to  pass,  when  Ahab  was  dead,  that  the 
king  of  Moab  rebelled  against  the  king  of  Israel."  - 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  quote  more  than  the  follow- 
ing sentences  in  the  inscription  : — "  I,  Mesha^  son  of  Jabin, 
king  of  Moab.  My  father  reigned  over  Moab  thirty  years, 
and  I  reigned  after  my  father.  I  erected  this  altar  unto 
Chemosh,  who  granted  me  victory  over  my  enemies,  the 
people  of  Omri,  king  of  Israel,  who,  together  with  his  son 
{Ahab),  oppressed  Moab  a  long  period, — even  forty  years. 
For  though  Chemosh  was  angry  against  the  land,  during  ray 
reign  he  was  favourable  to  Moab,  as  well  as  to  the  Temple, 
which  Israel  had  continually  wasted.  The  men  of  Gad 
dwelt  in  the  district  of  Kiriathaim  from  olden  times,  and  there 
the  kijig  of  Israel  built  a  fortress  for  himself,  which  Chemosh 
bade  me  go  and  take  from  him.  Then  I  went  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  and  fought  against  Israel  from  break  of  day 
until  noon,  and  slew  all  the  people  in  the  Xqwvl,  to  tlu 
delight  of  Chemosh,  the  god  of  Moab.  I  took  from  them 
all  the  sacred  vessels  of  Jehovah,  and  oftered  them  to 
Chemosh,  my  god,  instead."^ 

^  II.  Kings  iii.  4-27;  and  II.  Chronicles  xx.         -  II.  Kings  iii.  4,5. 
•*  See  "Recovery  of  Jerusalem,"  p.  496;   and  Dr.  Ginsburg's  Essay 
on  "The  Moabite  Stone." 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  275 

The  reference  to  Chemosh,  the  national  deity  of  ^loab,  is 
quite  in  harmony  with  the  Bible  allusion  to  Chemosh  as  the 
aboviinatioii  of  Moah ;^  and  the  whole  inscription  betokens 
the  long  subjection  of  Moab,  and  the  final  triumph  of  the 
Moabites.  For  sixty-five  years,  there  is  in  the  Bible  no 
further  notice  of  the  Moabites,  —  not  until  after  Elisha's 
death,  when,  as  we  are  told,  "  the  bands  of  the  Moabites 
invaded  the  land  at  the  coming  in  of  the  year."-  The 
silence  of  Scripture  on  this  subject  is  itself  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Moabitish  success  and  independence.  The 
inscription  further  gives  an  account  of  Mesha's  triumph,  and 
of  his  re-organising  and  strengthening  his  long-oppressed  and 
sorely-wasted  kingdom.  This  testimony  is  altogether  singular, 
and  cannot  be  set  aside  or  modified  by  any  possible  ingenuity 
of  mere  criticism. 

After  this  period,  the  historical  illustrations  of  Scripture 
are  so  numerous,  that  only  a  few  can  be  noticed;  but 
these,  taken  in  connection  with  the  evidence  which  has  been 
already  adduced,  constitute  an  insuperable  barrier  to  that 
destructive  criticism  in  which  rationalists  have  long  taken 
great  delight. 

Without  dwelling  on  the  intermingling  evidence  from  the 
Bible  and  Assyrian  records  regarding  the  general  condition 
of  S>Tia,  and  the  leagues  of  contending  tribes,  a  difficulty 
may  be  noticed  which  has  been  created  through  the  intro- 
duction in  the  Bible  history  of  the  name  of  the  Assyrian 
monarch  "  Pul,"  who  is  not  acknowledged  in  any  one  of  the 
Assyrian  records  of  that  period.  He  is  described  in  II.  Kings 
XV.  19,  and  I.  Chronicles  v.  26,  as  having  compelled 
Menahem,  king  of  Israel,  to  pay  him  a  thousand  talents,  being 
the  condition  of  withdrawing  his  troops  from  his  territory, 

*  I.  Kings  xi.  7.  -  II.  Kings  xiii.  20. 


276  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  [cHAP.  XIII. 

and  as  having  been  historically  associated  with  "  Tiglath- 
pileser,"  in  carrj-ing  the  Jews  into  capti\'ity,  "  even 
the  Reubenites,  and  the  Gadites,  and  the  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh."  While  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  this  is 
the  first  notice  of  Ass}Tia  in  the  Bible  since  the  time  of 
Nimrod,  and  that  Pul  is  the  first  Assyrian  invader  of  the 
Jewish  territory,  it  is  necessary  to  inquire  how  it  is  that, 
while  Tiglath-pileser  is  named  in  the  AssjTian  records,  Pul 
is  not. 

Although  the  Assyrian  annals  do  not  recognise  Pul  as  one 
of  their  kings,  he  is  distinctly  named  by  Berosus,  the  earliest 
and  most  reliable  historian  to  whom  appeal  can  be  made,  as 
reigning  at  this  time, — not,  however,  as  an  "  Assyrian,"  but 
as  a  Chaldcean  monarch.  As  he  reigned  at  Babylon,  and 
not  at  Nineveh,  he  is  not  acknowledged  to  be  an  AssjTian 
ruler.  But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  did  the  Bible  historians 
not  correctly  designate  him  "King  of  Bab)'lon?'''  Pro- 
fessor Rawlinson  has  fully  considered  this  anomaly  in  his 
"Ancient  Monarchies,"  and  has  more  briefly  stated,  in  his 
recent  little  work,  "Historical  Illustrations,"  what  appears  to 
be  the  true  solution  of  the  difficulty.  The  Jews,  after  the 
rise  of  the  AssjTian  empire,  did  not  minutely  discriminate  be- 
tween what  was  strictly  Assyrian  and  what  was  the  older,  or 
ChaMaafi,  authority.  Besides,  there  was  evidently  much  im- 
perial confusion  at  this  time;  it  is  clearly  shown  by  the  annals 
that  the  Assyrian  empire  was  temporarily  disorganised ; 
some  of  the  provinces  had  broken  off  from  the  royal  sway  in 
Nineveh ;  and  as  the  monarchs  there  may  have  held  the 
reins  of  government  with  a  slack  hand,  a  bold  and  ambitious 
Babylonian  prince,  like  Pul,  supported  by  5ome  of  the  revolted 
Assyrian  provinces,  and  niling  over  that  part  of  Ass)Tia 
which' was  nearest  to  them,  would  naturally  enough  be  re- 
garded and  spoken  of  by  the  Jews  as  aw  Assyrian  king. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  277 

"  He  was  a  Chaldsean  who,  in  the  troublous  times  that  fell 
upon  Assyria  about  b.c.  763-760,  obtained  the  dominion 
over  Western  Mesopotamia ;  and  who,  invading  Syria  from 
the  quarter  whence  the  Assyrian  armies  were  wont  to  come, 
and  being  at  the  head  of  Assyrian  troops,  appeared  as  much 
an  Assyrian  monarch  as  the  princes  that  held  their  court  at 
Nineveh."  ^  The  designation  of  Pul  as  king  of  Assyria, 
although  he  may  have  been  only  a  pretender,  is  not  only 
intelligible,  but,  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that 
Pul,  according  to  Berosus,  did  reign  as  king  of  Chaldsea 
exactly  at  this  time,  is  one  of  those  indirect  or  incidental 
testimonies  to  the  truth  of  Scripture  which  every  one 
accepts. 

TiGLATH-PiLESER  is  closcly  associatcd  with  Pul,  and  the 
records  of  his  life  intenveave  with  those  of  the  Bible  regard- 
ing Azariah  and  Ahaz,  Menahem,  Pekah,  and  Hoshea. 
When  Azariah  was  king  of  Judah,  Pekah  was  king  of 
Israel;  and  "In  the  days  of  Pekah  king  of  Israel,  came 
Tiglath-pileser,  king  of  Assyria,  and  took  Ijon,  and  Abel- 
beth-maachah,  and  Janoah,  and  Kedesh,  and  Hazor,  and 
Gilead,  and  Galilee,  all  the  land  of  Naphtali,  and  carried 
them  captive  to  Assyria."  - 

Soon  after  this  war,  another  followed  which  lasted  for 
several  years.  Damascus  and  Samaria,  with  their  kings 
Pekah  and  Rezin,  uniting,  declared  war  against  Ahaz,  who 
in  his  turn  applied  to  Tiglath-pileser,  and  pleaded  for  help 
against  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Israel.  '"  And  Ahaz  took  the 
silver  and  gold  that  teas  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house,  and  sent  //  for  a 
present  to  the  king  of  Assyria.  And  the  king  of  Assyria 
hearkened  unto  him :    for  the   king   of  Assyria   went   up 

1  "Historical  Illustrations,"  pp.  122,  124.         ^  II.  Kings  xv,29. 


278  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAr.  XIII. 

against  Damascus,  and  took  it,  and  carried  the  people  of  it 
captive  to  Kir,  and  slav  Rczin."  ^ 

This,  in  the  end,  proved  disastrous  poUcy  on  the  part  of 
Ahaz,  for  it  not  only  closed  the  history  of  Syria  as  a  separate 
kingdom  after  it  had  extended  through  ten  generations,  but 
it  led  to  the  commencement  of  the  captivity,  and  stimulated 
the  desire  of  the  Assyrian  king  to  obtain  more  of  that  gold 
which  the  weakness  of  the  Jewish  monarch  had  exposed  to 
view.  Although  Ahaz  went  to  Damascus  to  congratulate 
Tiglath-pileser  on  his  success,  and  adopted  the  plan  of  an 
idolatrous  altar,  which  had  pleased  him,  he  aftenvards  had 
the  mortification  of  finding  himself  left  unaided  in  the 
struggle  to  recover  the  places  which  had  been  taken,  during 
this  war,  by  the  Philistines  and  the  Edomites.  "  And  Tig- 
lath-pileser king  of  Assyria  came  unto  liim,  and  distressed 
him,  but  strengthened  him  not."  -  Ahaz  abandoned  principle, 
and  was  enfeebled  by  policy ;  he  went  from  one  depth  of 
infamy  to  another  in  idolatrous  methods,  and  when  he  died 
he  was  not  brought  "  into  the  sepulchres  of  the  kings  of 
Israel."  There  is  a  notice  of  the  defeat  and  death  of  Rezin 
in  one  of  the  inscriptions  now  in  the  British  Museum,^ 
and  Tiglath-pileser  himself  records  the  fact,  that  previously 
in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign,  he  had  defeated  a  great  army 
under  Azariah,  king  of  Judah. 

To  the  Bible  alone  are  we  indebted  for  a  distinct  account 
of  the  movements  of  Shalmaneser,  as  successor  of  Tiglath- 
pileser.  The  annals  of  his  kingdom  were  all  destroyed 
by  the  usurper  who  followed  him ;  but  satisfactory  evidence 
from  other  sources  has  been  forthcoming  to  show  that  his 
reign  fits  into  the  place  which  the  Bible  assigns  him.     From 


^  II.  Kings  xvi.  7,  8,  9.  ^11.  Chronicles  xxviii.  20. 

8  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  II,,  p.  132;  2nd  edition. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  279 


both  the  Phcenicians  and  the  Greeks,  we  learn  that  Shalman- 
eser  not  only  did  reign  in  Assyria,  but  that  he  contended 
with  the  Phoenicians  both  by  land  and  sea ;  in  short,  that 
he  overran  the  whole  of  Phoenicia,  with  the  exception  of 
Insular  Tyre,  which  he  besieged  for  no  less  than  five  years. 
For  this  information  we  are  indebted  to  Menander  of 
Ephesus  \  ^  and  in  the  minute  exactness  of  its  references  to 
Shalmaneser  we  have  a  fi-esh  proof  of  the  historical  value  of 
the  Bible. 

The  blank  which  occurs  in  the  Assyrian  annals  has  been 
filled  up  by  such  direct  announcements  in  Scripture  as  the 
following : — "  Against  him  (Hoshea)  came  up  Shalmaneser, 
king  of  Assyria ;  and  Hoshea  became  his  servant,  and 
gave  him  presents.  And  the  king  of  Assyria  found  con- 
spiracy in  Hoshea :  for  he  had  sent  messengers  to  So,  king 
of  Egypt,  and  brought  no  present  to  the  king  of  Assyria,  as 
lie  had  done  year  by  year;  therefore  the  king  of  Assyria 
shut  him  up,  and  bound  him  in  prison.  Then  the  king  of 
Ass)a-ia  came  up  throughout  all  the  land,  and  went  up  to 
Samaria,  and  besieged  it  three  years.  In  the  ninth  year  of 
Hoshea,  the  king  of  Assyria  took  Samaria,  and  carried 
Israel  away  into  Ass}Tia,  and  placed  them  in  Halah,  and  in 
Habor  by  the  river  of  Gozan,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes."^ 

In  the  course  of  the  three  years'  siege,  there  were 
evidently  stirring  scenes  in  the  Ass>Tian  empire.  A  new 
power  was  at  work  behind  Shalmaneser's  besieging  anny, 
and  in  some  way  it  became  connected  with  it  before  Samaria ; 
for  in  the  next  chapter,  at  the  ninth  verse,  it  is  said, — "And 
it  came  to  pass  in  the  fourth  year  of  king  Hezekiah,  which 
ivas  the  seventh   year  of  Hoshea,  son   of  Elah,  king   of 

^  Menand.,  Eph.  ap.  Joseph.  Ant.,  Ind.,  ix.,  14.  See  "Ancient 
Monarchies,"  vol.  II.,  p.  405.         -11.  Kmgs  xvii.  3-6. 


28o  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIII, 

Israel,  that  Shalmaneser,  king  of  Assyria,  came  up  against 
Samaria,  and  besieged  it.  And  at  the  end  of  three  years 
THEY  took  it."  .  .  .  Let  it  be  observed  that  it  is  not 
HE  (Shalmaneser)  took  it ;  which  would  have  been  the  most 
natural  expression,  and  most  in  accordance  with  the  style  of 
the  narrative.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that,  in  the  sixth 
verse  of  the  preceding  chapter,  when  Hoshea  is  named, 
and  when  we  should  have  expected  with  similar  directness 
the  name  Shalmaneser,  it  is  dropped,  and  "  The  king  of 
Assyria"  is  substituted.  It  is  clear  that  some  disturbing 
force  had  come  suddenly  into  the  midst  of  Shalmaneser's 
movements;  but/w7t'?  or  to/icncc?  none  could  answer.  It 
did  not  appear  from  the  historical  books  that  any  king 
reigned  between  Shalmaneser  and  Sennacherib.  In  the 
twentieth  chapter  of  Isaiah  there  is  a  formal  reference  to 
Sargon,  as  having  spread  terror  and  desolation  far  and  wide 
in  Syria  and  in  Egypt  ]  but  as  the  name  occurred  nowhere 
else  in  Scripture,  critics  were  divided  in  their  conclusions ; 
while  some  held  Sargon  to  be  the  same  as  Shalmaneser,  others 
held  him  to  be  identical  with  Sennacherib,  and  others  with 
Esar-haddon.  For  two  thousand  five  hundred  years,  Isaiah's 
mention  of  Sargon  remained  inexplicable  ;  but  the  mystery 
has  been  at  last  removed,  and  the  historical  delineation  by 
the  prophet  Isaiah  has  been  proved  to  be  literally  accurate, 
Sargon,  as  a  usurper,  had  taken  advantage  of  Shalmaneser's 
absence  at  the  siege  of  Samaria,  and  having  gained  suc- 
cesses with  his  army,  he  came  up  to  Samaria,  and  the  result 
was,  as  stated  above,  "they  took  it;"  hence  the  next  announce- 
ment, that  the  king  of  Assyria,  implying  Sargon,  whose 
name  or  position  may  not  have  been  very  clearly  understood 
by  the  historian  at  the  time,  took  Samaria;  and  having 
carried  Israel  captive,  placed  the  prisoners  in  Halah  and 
Habor,  and  "  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes." 


CHAP.  XIII.]  ELEXDIXG    LIGHTS.  281 

There  can  be  no  hesitation  now  in  admitting  both  the 
accuracy  of  Isaiah's  statements,  and  the  scrupulous  attention 
to  facts  shown  by  the  historian  of  II.  Kings,  for  the  name  of 
Sargon  is  found  on  the  Assyrian  monuments,  and  the  fullest 
accounts  of  his  reign  are  given.  As  he  was  the  supplanter, 
not  the  la^vful  successor,  of  Shalmaneser,  he  naturally 
attempted  to  blot  his  name  altogether  out  of  the  Assyrian 
annals,  and  he  so  far  accomplished  his  object  that  in  them 
no  traces  of  Shalmaneser's  reign  have  yet  been  found. 

Through  the  labours  of  M.  Botta,  it  has  been  placed 
beyond  dispute  that  Sargon  was  the  builder  of  the  palace  of 
Khorsabad,  and  in  its  ruins  full  details  of  his  reign  are 
given.  He  had  seized  and  annexed  to  Assyria  some  of  the 
towns  of  Media,  and  hence  the  minute  reference  in  Scripture 
to  what,  in  such  circumstances,  would  be  most  natural, — 
his  sending  Hebrew  captives  "  to  the  cities  of  the  Medes." 
Although  the  inscription  which  contained  an  account  of  his 
campaign  against  Samaria  has  been  almost  completely  de- 
stroyed, there  is  another  which  has  been  well  preserved,  in 
which  it  is  stated  that  he  carried  27,280  Israelites  into  cap- 
tivity "  from  Samaria  and  the  several  districts  or  provincial 
towns  dependent  on  that  city,"  ^  and  there  is  some  evidence 
of  his  having  compelled  the  kings  of  Egypt  to  pay  him 
tribute.  - 

It  is  agreeably  surprising  to  find  a  minute  reference  to  a 
comparatively  insignificant  fact  in  a  great  campaign,  like  that 
made  by  Isaiah  to  the  taking  of  Ashdod  by  Sargon,  fully 
confirmed  by  the  Assyrian  records.  This  and  similar  details 
have  been  very  clearly  illustrated.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  description  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Isaiah  has  refer- 
ence to  Sargon  as  having  been  the  conqueror  of  Carehcinish 


^  Layard's  "  Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  618.        -  Ibid,  620. 


282  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

as  well  as  of  Samaria,  and  evidence  is  adduced  from  an 
inscription  found  at  Nineveh,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
it  is  said — "  The  mighty  king  Sargon  waged  war  against  the 
wicked,  and  having  overcome  Pisiri,  king  of  Syria,  placed  a 
governor  in  the  city  of  Carchcmish.' 

Sennacherib,  it  is  admitted,  was  Sargon's  successor,  and 
there  is  a  remarkable  correspondence  between  the  account 
in  the  Bible  and  the  recently  discovered  Assyrian  annals. 
Of  the  outset  of  his  movements,  it  is  said  in  the  Bible : 
"  Now,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  king  Hezekiah  did 
Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  come  against  all  the  fenced 
cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them.  And  Hezekiah  king  of 
Judah  sent  to  the  king  of  Assyria  to  Lachish,  saying,  I  have 
offended ;  return  from  me  :  that  which  thou  puttest  on  me 
will  I  bear.  And  the  king  of  Assyria  appointed  unto 
Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  three  hundred  talents  of  silver, 
and  thirty  talents  of  gold.  And  Hezekiah  gave  //////  all  the 
silver  that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the 
treasures  of  the  king's  house."  ^  In  the  inscriptions  which 
have  been  translated,  the  Bible  references  to  "  all  the  fenced 
cities  of  yudah"  and  to  the  thirty  talents  of  gold,  have  their 
counterpart.  The  following  statement  by  Sennacherib 
thoroughly  coalesces  with  that  of  the  Bible :—"  Because 
Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  would  not  submit  to  my  yoke,  I 
came  up  against  him,  and  by  force  of  arms,  and  by  the 
might  of  my  power,  I  took  forty-six  of  his  strong  fenced  cities; 
and  of  the  smaller  towns  which  were  scattered  about,  I  took 
and  plundered  a  countless  number ;  and  from  their  places 
I  captured  and  carried  off  as  spoil  200,150  people,  old  and 
young,  male  and  female,  together  with  horses  and  mares, 
asses  and  camels,  oxen  and  sheep,  a  countless  multitude. 

1  II.  Kings  .wiii.  13,  15. 


CHAP.  XTII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  283 

And  Hezekiah  himself  I  shut  up  in  Jerusalem,  like  a  bird 
in  a  cage,  building  towers  round  the  city  to  hem  him  in,  and 
raising  banks  of  earth  against  the  gates  to  prevent  escape. 
.  .  .  Then,  upon  this  Hezekiah,  there  fell  the  fear  of  the 
power  of  my  arms,  and  he  sent  out  to  me  the  chiefs  and 
the  elders  of  Jerusalem  with  thirty  talents  of  gold,  and 
eight  hundred  talents  of  silver,  and  divers  treasures, — a 
rich  and  immense  booty.  .  .  .  All  these  things  were 
brought  to  me  at  Nineveh,  the  seat  of  my  government, 
Hezekiah  having  sent  them  by  way  of  tribute,  and  as 
a  token  of  submission  to  my  power."  ^ 

The  eight  hundred  talents  as  against  the  three  hundred 
specified  in  the  Bible  include,  obviously,  all  the  silver  which 
was  obtained  at  first  from  every  source,  while  the  three 
hundred  constituted  the  annual  tribute.  Is  not  the  coin- 
cidence of  these  two  descriptions  very  remarkable?  The 
agreement  of  the  Bible  statement  with  the  annals  is  still 
more  striking  when  the  passages  in  Isaiah  are  collated  with 
those  of  the  historical  books.  Of  the  above  passage  there 
is  a  slightly  different  translation  by  Dr.  Hincks,  in  Layard's 
"  Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  but  substantially  the  agreement  is 
such  that  the  two  may  be  held  as  one.  - 

Sennacherib  undertook  a  second  expedition  to  Jerusalem, 
and  it  would  seem  that  in  both  he  occupied  Lachish,^  and  in 
either  the  one  or  the  other  a  serious  resistance  to  his  arms 
was  made,  but  in  vain.  Sennacherib  triumphed,  and  in  his 
annals  there  is  an  inscription  confirmatory  of  his  attack  on 
Lachish,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  Bible  :  "  After  this  did  Senna- 
cherib, king  of  Assyria,  send  his  servants  to  Jerusalem  (but 


^  "  Ancient  Monarchies, "  vol.  III.,  pp.  161,  162. 

-  Layard's  "Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  143,  144. 

3  II.  Kings  xxiii.  14,  17,  and  xi.x.  3;  and  Isaiah  xxix.   1-8,  and  xxiv, 


284  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 


he  himself  laid  siege  against  Lachish,  and  all  his  power  with 
him),  unto  Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah,  and  unto  all  Judah 
that  laere  at  Jerusalem,"  &c.  ^  In  the  Assyrian  annals  it  is 
said — "  Sennacherib,  the  mighty  king,  king  of  the  country 
of  Assyria,  sitting  on  the  throne  of  judgment,  before  the 
city  Lachish  (Lakkisha),  I  gave  permission  for  its  slaughter.''  ^ 
In  his  expedition  directed  chiefly  against  Egypt,  he  was 
disastrously  unsuccessful.  He  bent  his  arms  towards 
Jerusalem,  and  "was  purposed  to  fight  against"  it,  but 
Hezekiah  made  most  vigorous  preparations  for  its  defence. 
In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  II.  Kings,  there  is  an  almost 
matchless  description  of  the  arrogance,  the  pride,  and  the 
blasphemies  of  the  Assyrian  king  and  his  representatives, 
which  led  to  the  profound  heart-pleadings  of  Hezekiah  with 
the  God  of  Israel;  and  all  this  is  followed  by  Isaiah's 
defiant  scorn,  and  his  prophetic  denunciations  of  the 
Assyrian  king  and  his  hosts.  "  Therefore  thus  saith  the 
Lord  concerning  the  king  of  Assyria,  He  shall  not  come 
into  this  city,  nor  shoot  an  arrow  there,  nor  come  before  it 
with  shield,  nor  cast  a  bank  against  it.  By  the  way  that  he 
came,  by  the  same  shall  he  return,  and  shall  not  come  into 
this  city,  saith  the  Lord.  .  .  .  And  it  came  to  pass 
that  night,  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out,  and  smote 
in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  an  hundred  fourscore  and  (we 
thousand :  and  when  they  arose  early  in  the  morning, 
behold,  they  were  all  dead  corpses.  So  Sennacherib  king 
of  Assyria,  departed,  and  went  and  returned,  and  dwelt  at 
Nineveh.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  was  worshipping  in 
the  house  of  Nisroch,  his  god,  that  Adrammelech  and 
Sharezer,  his  sons,  smote  him  with  the  sword,  .  .  .  and 
Esar-haddon,  his  son,  reigned  in  his  stead."     To  the  very 


'  II.  Chron.  xx.\ii,  9  *  Layard's  *' Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  152. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  285 

letter  in  every  particular  has  this  striking  statement  been 
confirmed. 

How  complete  this  overthrow  of  Sennacherib,  when  suc- 
cess seemed  certain  !  His  plans  were  laid  with  skill,  and 
prosecuted  with  energy.  As  Sethos,  one  of  the  native 
princes,  was  near  with  his  army,  Sennacherib  had  resolved 
to  crush  him  before  the  great  Ethiopian  monarch,  Tirhakah, 
could  unite  forces  with  him.  "  The  two  hosts,"  says  Raw- 
linson,  "lay  down  at  night  in  their  respective  stations, — 
the  Egyptians  and  their  king  full  of  anxious  alarm ;  Senna- 
cherib and  his  Ass3Tians  proudly  confident,  intending  on  the 
morrow  to  advance  to  the  combat  and  repeat  the  lesson 
taught  at  Raphia  and  Attaka.  But  no  morrow  was  to  break 
in  on  the  great  mass  of  those  who  took  their  rest  in  the 
tents  of  the  Assyrians.     The  divine  fiat  had  gone  forth.     In 

the  night,  as  they  slept,  destruction  fell  on  them A 

miracle  like^the  destruction  of  the  first-born  had  been  wrought, 
but  this  time  on  the  enemies  of  the  Egyjotians,  who  naturally 
ascribed  their  deliverance  to  the  interposition  of  their  own 
gods ;  and  seeing  the  enemy  in  confusion  and  retreat, 
pressed  hastily  after  him,  distressed  his  flying  columns,  and 
cut  off  his  stragglers.  The  Assyrian  king  returned  home  to 
Nineveh,  shorn  of  his  glory,  with  the  shattered  remains  of 
his  great  host,  and  cast  that  proud  capital  into  a  state  of 
despair  and  grief,  which  the  genius  of  an  ^schylus  might 
have  rejoiced  to  depict,  but  which  no  less  powerful  pen 
could  adequately  portray."^ 

The  Assyrian  annals,  as  was  the  practice,  take  no  notice 
of  this  fearful  calamity ;  but  the  Egyptian  historians  record 
the  disaster :  they  account  for  it  in  their  own  way,  and  the 
priests  informed  Herodotus  that  Sethos  erected  a  monument 

^  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  II.,  pp.  443,  444. 


286 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIII. 


in  commemoration  of  the  event,  which  they  pointed  out  to 
him.  ^ItVas  the  statue  of  a  man,  and  bore  the  inscription, 
"  Look  on  me,  and  learn  to  reverence  the  gods." 

The  Bible  historians,  of  course,  did  not  regard  it  as  within 
their  scopejto  record  the  subsequent  wars  and  triumphs  of 
Sennacherib.  From  other  sources  we  hear  of  the  conquests 
which  he  made ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that,  Avith 
all  his  recruited  energies,  he  did  not  renew  his  attack  oii' 
Jerusalem  or  Egypt ;  he  accepted  the  terrible  warning  which 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel  had  given  him,  and  turned  his  energies^ 
to  other  achievements.  The  Bible  relates,  however,  his  sad 
and  inglorious  end  by  the  hand  of  his  own  sons ;  and,  in  scj 
far  as  historical  evidence  goes,  this  account  of  his  death  has 
been  confirmed.  "  The  murder  of  Sennacherib,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Rawlinson,  "  if  it  was,  as  perhaps  it  was,  a  judgment 
on  the  individual,  was  at  least  equally  a  judgment  on  the 
nation.  When,  in  an  absolute  monarchy,  the  palace  becomes 
the  scene  of  the  worst  crimes,  the  doom  of  the  kingdom  is 
sealed ;  it  totters  to  its  fall,  and  requires  but  a  touch  from 
without  to  collapse  into  a  heap  of  ruins."  ^ 

EsAR-HADDON,  the  son  of  Sennacherib,  was  his  successor,  ^ 
and  carried  on  scA'eral  extensive  campaigns,  but  in  only  one 
important  particular  does  his  history  touch  Bible  history. 
He  was  the  contemporary  of  Manasseh,  king  of  Judah  ;  and 
being  displeased  with  his  disaffection  or  revolt,  he  sent  the 
captains  of  his  host,  who  took  Manasseh  "  among  the  thorns, 
and  bound  him  with  fetters,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon." - 
Treated  severely,  his  affliction  led  him  to  penitence,  to 
humbling  himself  before  God,  and  subsequently  to  his  restoral 
to  his  throne  by  Esar-haddon,  on  condition  of  subjection. 

Esar-haddon,  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  was  the  first  of 


^  II.  Kings  .\i.x,  37.  -  II.  Chion.  xx.\iii.  il. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  287 

the  Assyrian  line  who  was  king  of  Babylon  as  well  as  of 
Assyria.  Sargon  took  the  title  of  both,  but  Esar-haddon 
had  built  there  a  palace  for  himself,  in  which,  no  doubt,  he 
would  sometimes  reside.  1  It  is  to  Babylon  he  was  brought, 
and  not  to  Nineveh,  as  was  the  custom.  This  is  the  first 
Assyrian  king  with  whom  such  a  destination  for  any  prisoner 
was  possible.  Is  it  not  very  singular  to  find  that  Manasseh 
is  said  to  have  been  brought  to  Babylon,  and  can  any  degree 
of  exactness  more  completely  testify  to  the  truth  of  the 
Bible?  As  soon  as  the  king  is  resident  in  Babylon,  the 
Bible  tells  us  that  thither  the  captive  was  brought. 

That  Manasseh  was  made  his  prisoner  cannot  be  doubted ; 
the  annals  of  Esar-haddon  attest  the  fact.  In  the  inscription 
bearing  on  the  capture  of  prisoners,  it  is  said, — "  I  count 
amongst  the  prisoners  of  my  reign  twelve  kings  of  the 
Hittites,  who  dwelt  beyond  the  mountains, — Bahlon,  king 
of  Tyre,  Manasseh,  king  of  J^udah,  together  with  the  kings 
of  the  Isles  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea."  -  A  more  explicit 
statement  cannot  be  desired. 

As  it  would  occupy  greatly  more  space  than  the  limits  of 
this  work  admit,  to  follow  closely  the  series  of  incidental 
testimonies  which  the  prophetic  writings  contain,  a  few  brief 
notices  may  suffice  to  complete  this  general  argument. 

While  the  children  of  Israel  were  pining  in  captivity  by 
"  Babel's  streams,"  and  had  apparently  closed  their  history, 
they  are  not  only  preserved  by  God  as  a  separate  people, 
but  distinguished  by  the  steady  light  which  the  character  of 
Daniel  sheds  on  them.  Though  in  captivity,  they  are 
brought  to  the  foreground,  and  their  history  rises  in  import- 

^  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  II.,  p.  196;  2nd  ed. 
-  "Revue  Arclieologique, "  1864.     Quoted  by  the  Rev.  B.  R.  Savile 
in  "The  Truth  of  the  Bible,"  p.  289. 


288  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

ance  above  that  even  of  their  conquerors,  Nebuchadnezzar, 
king  of  Babylon,  is  made  all  the  more  conspicuous  by  his 
relations  to  the  prophet  Daniel  and  his  people.  The 
mutual  relations  of  Daniel  and  Nebuchadnezzar  are  so  well 
known,  that  it  is  needless  to  refer  to  them  minutely;  but 
there  are  several  coincidences  which  are  too  striking  to  be 
omitted.  Nebuchadnezzar  contributed  so  much  to  the  ex- 
tension and  adornment  of  the  city  that,  naturally,  as  recorded 
in  Scripture,  "  he  walked  in  the  palace  of  the  kingdom  of 
Babylon,"  and  said,  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon  that  I  have 
built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom  by  the  might  of  my 
power,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty?"  In  the  clear 
"  Standard  Inscription  of  Nebuchadnezzar,"  his  account  of 
what  he  did  is  in  every  sense  only  an  amplification  of  the 
above  brief  announcement, — "  The  double  enclosure  which 
Nabopolassar,  my  father,  had  made,  but  not  completed,  / 
finished.  .  .  .  The  great  double  wall  of  Babylon  / 
finished.  .  .  .  I  strengthened  the  city.  .  .  .  Across 
the  river  to  the  west  /  built  the  wall  of  Babylon  with 
brick.  .  .  .  The  reservoir  of  Babylon,  by  the  grace  of 
Merodach,  /  filled  completely  full  of  water.  .  .  .  I  made 
the  way  oiNana,  the  protectress  of  her  ^•otaries.  .  .  .  These 
gates  /  raised.  .  .  .  For  the  delight  of  mankind,  / 
filled  the  reservoir.  Behold  !  besides  the  Ingur-Bcl,  the 
impregnable  fortification  of  Babylon,  /  constructed  inside 
Babylon,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river,  a  fortification  such 
as  no  king  had  ever  made  before  me,  viz.,  a  long  rampart, 
4000  ammas  square,  as  an  extra  defence.  /  excavated  the 
ditch ;  with  brick  and  mortar  /  bound  its  bed ;  a  long 
rampart  at  its  head  /  strongly  built.  /  adorned  its  gates. 
The  folding  doors  and  pillars  /  plated  with  copper,"  ^  and 

^  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  III.,  p.  524  ;  2nd  edition. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLEXDING   LIGHTS.  289 

SO  on.  Can  any  historical  light  more  vividly  reveal  the 
accuracy  of  the  photograph  of  Nebuchadnezzar  as  it  is  set 
in  the  Book  of  Daniel  ? 

Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  has  borne  important  testimony  to 
the  reality  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  influence  and  his  extensive 
improvements,  when  he  said — ''  I  have  examined  the  bricks 
in  situ,  belonging,  perhaps,  to  a  hundred  towns  and  cities  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bagdad,  and  I  have  never  yet  found 
any  other  legend  than  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  son  of 
Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon." 

In  the  same  inscription  there  is  a  passage  in  which  it  is 
believed  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  calamity  which  Daniel 
has  described  as  befalling  Nebuchadnezzar,  when  he  was 
driven  from  the  haunts  of  men  until  **  seven  times  "  should 
pass  over  him,  and  he  should  acknowledge  God;  but  as 
difference  of  opinion  has,  of  late,  been  shown  regarding  it, 
we  shall  quote  tlie  passage  merely  as  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson 
rendered  it,  in  the  hope  that  his  translation  may  yet  be  fully 
verified,  and  that  the  remark  of  Professor  Rawlinson  in  his 
"  Bampton  Lectures  "  may  be  vindicated,  that  "  the  whole 
range  of  cuneiform  literature  presents  no  similar  instance  of 
a  king  putting  on  record  his  own  inaction,"  notwithstanding 
his  having  withheld  this  conclusion  as  now  doubtful,  in  both 
his  "Ancient  Monarchies"  and  his  "Historical  Illustrations 
of  the  Old  Testament."  "  For  four  years  .  .  ,  the 
seat  of  my  kingdom  in  the  city,  which  .  .  .  did  not 
rejoice  my  heart.  In  all  my  dominions  I  did  not  build 
a  high  place  of  power ;  the  precious  treasures  of  my 
kingdom  I  did  not  lay  up.  In  Babylon,  buildings  for 
myself  and  for  the  honour  of  my  kingdom  I  did  not  lay 
out.  In  the  worship  of  ^lerodach,  my  lord,  the  joy  of 
my  heart,  in  Babylon,  tlie  city  of  his  sovereignty  and 
the  seat  of  my  empire,  I  did  not  sing  his  praises,  I  did 

V 


29©  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  XIII. 

not  furnish  his  altars  with  victims,  nor  did  I  clear  out  the 
canals." 

The  blanks  at  the  beginning  represent  words  which  have 
baffled  the  deciphering  skill  of  Sir  Henry,  but  obviously,  if 
its  meaning  has  been  rightly  apprehended,  the  whole  passage 
exhibits  a  complete  revolution  in  the  life  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
and  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the  energetic  action  exhibited 
in  the  first  part  of  the  inscription,  which  we  quoted. 

The  "  seven  times,"  mentioned  by  Daniel,  does  not 
necessarily  mean  seven  years,  and  accordingly  an  explana- 
tion to  the  following  effect  has  been  offered.  It  was  common 
in  Persia  and  Chaldtea  to  divide  the  year  into  txoo  seasons 
only,  summer  and  winter,  and  thus  we  have  three  and  a  half 
solar  years,  which  would,  in  the  main,  correspond  with  the 
srvcn  times,  or  three  and  a  half  years.  But  as  critical  diffi- 
culties, in  the  meantime,  lie  in  the  way  of  accepting  this 
view  of  the  inscription,  we  do  not  press  it,  because  it  is 
most  undesirable  where  there  is  so  much  that  is  thoroughly 
definite,  to  weaken  our  argument  by  introducing  what  is 
doubtful.  We  give  the  opponents  of  the  Bible  the  benefit 
of  the  doubt,  and  we  merely  submit  the  probable  rendering 
of  the  passage,  because  it  is  not  inappropriate  to  evidence 
from  other  sources  bearing  on  the  same  great  fact  of 
Nebuchadnezzar's  temporary  seclusion.  The  reign  of  a 
queen  is  placed  in  this  period  by  some  historians,  and  it  is 
not  in  the  least  improbable  that  she  conducted  public  aftairs 
while  Nebuchadnezzar  was  temporarily  unfit  to  take  any 
interest  in  them.  It  is  also  distinctly  intimated  that  he 
"  fell  into  a  state  of  infirm  health "  some  time  before  his 
decease ;  and  Professor  Rawlinson  has  quoted  from  Aby- 
denus  a  remarkable  passage,  ^  containing  an  account  of  the 

'  "  Historical  Illustrations,"  pp.  i68,  169. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLE.YDT.VG  LIGHTS.  29I 

last  words  and  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  which  he 
regards  as  of  importance  in  connecting  the  commencement 
of  Nebuchadnezzar's  malady,  not  only  with  the  roof  of  the 
palace,  as  it  is  implied  in  Daniel  iv.  29,  but  with  his  dis- 
appearance from  among  men,  and  with  such  prophetic  power 
as  was  mysteriously  imparted  to  him,  according  to  the 
account  by  Daniel. 

In  the  scripture  narrative  of  the  sudden  destruction  of  the 
Babylonian  kingdom,  there  were  two  minute  statements 
against  which  rationalistic  writers  long  urged  strong  objec- 
tions, and  on  which  they  rested  demands  for  the  rejection 
of  the  book  of  Daniel  as  "  full  of  historical  errors ;"  and  the 
result  reminds  us  of  what  has  often  happened  in  supposed 
contradictions  of  the  Bible  by  facts  in  natural  science.  The 
first  statement  which  was  sneered  at  as  erroneous,  is  that 
which  describes  Belshazzar  as  king  of  Babylon ;  and  the 
second,  is  that  which  intimates  that  Daniel  was  to  receive 
the  reward  of  being  made  t/ii?-d  instead  of  second  in  the 
kingdom,  in  accordance  with  custom. 

The  objections  pressed  against  Daniel's  statement  that 
Belshazzar  was  king,  had  apparently  such  weight,  that  Bible 
students  were  long  greatly  perplexed.  Some  of  the  ancient 
historians,  as  Herodotus  and  Berosus,  to  whose  opinions 
deserved  deference  has  always  been  paid,  have  stated  that 
not  Belshazzar,  but  Nabonnedus^  (or  Labynetus),  was  king  of 
Babylon  when  it  was  taken  by  the  Medo-Persians — that  this 
Nabonnedus  was  not  in  the  city  Babylon  when  it  was  over- 
thro^\^l — that  he  was  not  slain — that  he  was  taken  prisoner 
in  a  contest  outside  the  city,  and  was  generously  treated  by 
Cyrus.  To  meet  these  statements,  there  was  no  answer 
beyond  that  which  faith  in  the  accuracy  of  the  Bible  sug- 

^  Oi-  Nabonidus,  or  Nabonadius. 


292  BLEKDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XTIT. 

gested.  But  a  most  interesting  discover}'  of  clay  cylinders 
by  ]\[r.  Taylor,  when  he  was  making  excavations  in  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees  under  the  superintendence  of  Sir  H.  Rawlinson, 
has  put  an  end  to  the  cavils  of  the  sceptic  and  the  difficulties 
of  the  Christian.  The  cylinders  bear  inscriptions  which  Sir 
Henry,  to  his  delight,  has  found  to  contain  an  account  of  the 
reign  of  this  very  Nabonnedus,  a  discovery  of  the  utmost 
importance  for  the  illustration  of  Scripture.  *'  The  most 
important  facts,  however,  which  they  disclose,"  says  Sir 
Henry,  in  a  most  instructive  letter  in  the  "  Athenceum,"  "  is 
that  the  eldest  son  of  Nabonidus  was  named  Bel-shar-ezar, 
and  that  he  was  admitted  by  his  father  to  a  share  in  the 
government.  This  name  is  undoubtedly  the  Belshazzar  of 
Daniel,  and  thus  furnishes  a  key  to  the  explanation  of 
that  great  historical  problem  which  has  hitherto  defied 
solution.  We  can  now  understand  how  Belshazzar,  as  joint 
king  with  his  father,  may  have  been  governor  of  Babylon 
when  the  city  was  attacked  by  the  combined  forces  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians,  and  may  have  perished  in  the  assault 
which  followed ;  while  Nabonnedus,  leading  a  force  to  the 
relief  of  the  place,  was  defeated  and  obliged  to  take  refuge 
in  the  neighbouring  town  of  Borsippa  (or  Birs-i-Nimrud), 
capitulating  after  a  short  resistance,  and  being  subsequently 
assigned,  according  to  Berosus,  an  honourable  retirement  in 
Carmania.  By  the  discovery,  indeed,  of  the  name  Bel-shar- 
ezar,  as  appertaining  to  the  son  of  Nabonnedus,  we  are  for  the 
first  time  enabled  to  reconcile  authentic  history  (such  as  it  is 
related  by  Herodotus  and  Berosus,  and  not  as  we  find  it  in 
the  romances  of  Xenophon  or  the  fables  of  Ctesias,)  with 
the^inspired  record  of  Daniel,  which  forms  one  of  the  bul- 
warks of  our  religion."  ^ 

1  "Athenxum,"  1854,  \\  341. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  293 

In  further  sketching  the  memorials  of  the  latter  kings,  Sir 
Henry  says  that  of  "  Nabonidus  they  were  finding  relics  in 
all  quarters."  "The  walls  of  Babylon  on  the  river  face, 
erected  by  this  king,  were  completely  exposed  during  a  late 
fall  of  the  river,  and  the  bricks  of  which  the  wall  was  com- 
posed were  found  to  be  uniformly  stamped  with  his  name 
and  titles."  The  evidence  of  the  father's  reign  and  influence 
is  complete,  and  the  incidental  testimony  to  Belshazzar 
being  co-regent,  in  addition  to  the  direct  statement  by  the 
father  in  his  annals,  is  such  that  it  cannot  be  set  aside.  A 
co-regency  was  not  uncommon ;  Nabopolassar  shared  his 
government  with  his  son  Nebuchadnezzar,  Xerxes  with  his 
son  Artaxerxes,  and  Augustus  with  Tiberius. 

We  thus  find  that  there  were  two  kings,  father  and  son, 
associated  in  the  rule  of  the  kingdom ;  and  that  Nabonnedus 
(Nabonidus)  was  not  in  the  city,  but  in  its  neighbourhood 
defending  it,  while  Belshazzar  was  within  the  city,  as  Daniel 
has  written,  and  perished  in  its  ruins. 

This  record  has  not  only  removed  the  difficulty  as  to 
Nabonnedus  being  king  and  not  Belshazzar,  but  it  has  dis- 
posed of  the  objections  which  have  been  raised  in  reference 
to  Daniel  having  been  assigned  the  third  place  instead  of  the 
second.  Belshazzar  offered  the  third  place  to  any  interpreter 
of  the  hand-writing  on  the  wall,  because  he  could  not  offer 
the  second,  for  the  very  reason  which  has  at  last  been  ascer- 
tained through  the  discovered  inscription,  that  he  was  \inxi- 
st\i  seco?td,  his  father  Nabonnedus  being  first.  Is  not  this 
another  striking  testimony  to  the  exactness  of  the  sacred 
record  ?  That  which  was  long  a  stumbling-block  to  ignor- 
ance, has,  in  the  light  of  recent  discoveries,  proved  a  source 
of  strength  to  the  Bible  student,  and  it  carries  with  it  an 
emphatic  warning  against  hasty  conclusions  unfavourable  to 
the  Word  of  God.     The  seeming  historical  inaccuracies  in 


294  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIII. 

Daniel,  of  which  some  German  critics  have  complained  so 
loudly,  have  been  turned  into  an  impregnable  defence  of  its 
claims  to  a  reliableness  which,  in  even  minute  details,  no 
other  ancient  history  can  profess  and  establisli. 

When  we  move  along  the  line  of  Jewish  history  after  the 
time  of  Daniel,  we  have  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Esther  detail- 
ing events  which  extend  over  rather  more  than  a  hundred 
years  beyond  the  return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity. 
A  new  empire  spreads  out  before  us.  Cyrus,  Ahasuerus, 
Artaxerxes,  Darius,  Artaxerxes,  pass  in  succession  through 
changes  which  have  an  important  bearing  on  the  destiny  of 
Jews.  Not  only  in  the  general  but  in  the  minuter  statements 
of  both  the  sacred  and  the  secular  historians  of  this  period, 
are  there  very  striking  coincidences ;  and  those  illustrious 
rulers  to  whom  we  have  referred  have,  in  their  histories, 
touched  Jewish  interests  in  so  many  points,  that,  for  rational- 
ists, nothing  should  be  easier  than  the  detection  and  exposure 
of  errors,  if  any  did  exist ;  but  in  this  their  failure  has  been 
complete,  and  they  have  been  forced  to  accept,  in  many 
instances,  as  true  what  they  once  denounced  or  ridiculed 
as  false. 

That  some  difficulties  remain  we  admit;  but  they  are 
comparatively  insignificant,  and  the  preponderance  of  exactly 
corresponding  records  is  such  as  to  render  the  historical 
argument  unanswerable.  Testimonies  have  been  unexpec- 
tedly forthcoming  to  vindicate  the  Scriptures  along  the 
whole  line  of  their  history,  whenever  and  wherever  doubts 
have  been  raised  and  assaults  made. 

From  the  earliest  announcements  regarding  the  Deluge, 
Noah  and  his  sons,  and  Abraham  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  or 
Egypt,  down  through  all  vicissitudes  to  the  very  close  of  the 
Old  Testament  history,  fuller  light  is  being  shed  on  e\ery 
other  record  when  it  comes  into  contact  with  the  Bible; 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  295 

and  much  that  would  have  otherwise  remained  obscure,  has 
thus  been  made  definite  and  inteUigible.  To  the  general 
historian,  the  Bible  is  proving  of  priceless  value ;  and  some 
of  those  who  have  most  indulged  in  sneers  at  seeming  in- 
accuracies, have  been  constrained  to  confess  their  error,  and 
to  pay  to  its  authority  a  not  ungenerous  homage. 

In  the  rapid  progress  of  archceological  discoveries  in  the 
East,  there  is  everything  to  warrant  the  anticipation  of  Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson,  that  scholars  will  soon  be  able  so  to 
classify  both  the  Chaldsean  and  Assyrian  kings,  and  so  to 
spread  out  their  annals,  that  "  they  shall  have  an  historical 
tableau  of  Western  Asia,  ascending  to  the  twentieth  century 
B.C.,  or  anterior  to  the  exodus  of  Abraham  from  Chaldsea, 
far  more  determinate  and  continuous  than  has  been  obtained 
for  the  sister  kingdom,"^  Egypt-  The  recent  labours  of  Mr. 
G,  Smith  add  interest  and  emphasis  to  this  expectation ;  and 
is  it  not  marvellous  to  find  the  Bible,  in  its  earliest  and  in  its 
latest  historical  intimations,  shining  with  increasing  splendour 
as  archaeologists  and  historians  translate  conjecture  into  Fact, 
and  displace  myths  by  universally  acknowledged  realities  ? 


'Athenaeum,"  1854,  p.  343. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Bible  History  in  relation  to  Prophecy — The  Evidence  of  Pro- 
phecy— The  Idea  of  the  Supernatural  Inseparable  from  it. 

"  History  is  the  occasion  of  prophecy,  but  not  its  measure  ;  for  pro- 
phecy rises  above  history,  borne  aloft  by  its  wings,  \vhich  carry  it  far 
beyond  the  present,  and  which  it  derives,  not  from  the  past  occurrences 
of  which  history  takes  cognisance,  but  from  Him  to  whom  the  future 
and  the  past  are  alike  kno^^^l.  It  is  the  communication  of  so  much  of 
His  own  supernatural  light,  as  he  sees  fit  to  let  doMn  upon  the  dark 
movements  of  history,  to  show  whither  they  are  going." — Principal 
Fairbaini. 

ALTHOUGH  we  have  hitherto  examined  the  Bible  and 
other  ancient  histories  in  precisely  the  same  way,  we 
cannot  leave  them  as  if  no  marked  ditTterenccs  appeared.  Our 
work  is  but  half  finished.  No  one  can  carefully  study  the 
Bible  for  its  historical  information  alone,  without  discovering 
that  its  History  has  at  times  assumed  an  entirely  distinctive 
character.  It  anticipates  the  future.  Prophecy  becomes 
History,  as  the  mystery  of  prediction  passes  into  the  light  of 
fulfilment.  History  records  Prophecies  before  their  accom- 
plishment ;  traces  the  progress  of  events ;  and,  at  last,  sepa- 
rates such  as  have  been  indisputably  fulfilled  from  those 
which  have  not.  Prophecy  and  History  thus  act  and  re- 
act on  each  other, — they  are  inseparable, — they  blend  as 
lights. 

I.  Bible  History  in  Relation  to  Prophecy. 

While  Prophecy  embraces  two  departments,  the  moral  or 
doctrinal  and  the  predictive,  it  is  with  the  latter  we  have  at 
present  to  do  chiefly,  and  with  that  only  in  its  specially  dis- 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  297 

tinctive  character.  Some  exalt  the  one  and  depreciate  the 
other ;  but  both  have  their  vakie.  Comprehensively,  Pro- 
phecy includes  all  those  truths,  or  secrets,  which  men  could 
not,  in  the  circumstances  of  their  age,  ascertain  by  their 
own  unaided  energies.  It  was  the  privilege  of  those  who 
werfe  appointed  by  the  Great  Revealer,  to  proclaim  them, 
whether  the  truths  unfolded  had  reference  to  the  past,  the 
present,  or  the  future,  or  to  all  combined  \  and,  be  the  form 
or  substance  what  it  may,  it  was  still  a  revelation.  If  we  even 
restrict  our  view  of  Prophecy  to  the  moral  alone,  as  funda- 
mental, we  discover  so  much  that  is  distinctive,  that  the  Bible 
cannot  be  classed  with  other  histories.  The  laws  of  God, 
His  dominion,  His  providence,  His  majesty,  His  holiness, 
justice,  and  mercy;  man's  obligation  of  obedience  to  Him, 
and  his  duties  to  his  fellow-men,  are  all  set  forth  mth  a 
brilliancy  and  an  authoritativeness  which  are  elsewhere  un- 
equalled. So  thickly  are  the  pages  of  Prophecy  strewn  with 
the  original  principles  of  morality  and  religion,^  that  no 
unprejudiced  student  can  fail  to  be  arrested  by  them. 

And  if  we  adopt  the  view  in  which  Prophecy  is  regarded 
as  merely  predictive  of  events  which  could  not  possibly  have 
been  foreknown  by  any  science  or  wisdom  of  man,  but  which 
must  have  been  revealed  by  the  Omniscient  Ruler,  there  is 
that  which  is  so  singular  that  it  raises  the  Bible  above  all  the 
ordinary  histories  by  which  it  has  ever  been  tested. 

As  the  older  Prophets,  one  after  another,  traverse  the 
sphere  of  Bible  History,  the  observant  student  recognises  in 
each  an  accredited  "  Man  of  God."  Their  messages,  their 
looks,  their  tones,  are  so  singular  that  they  cannot  be  classed 
with  even  the  greatest  actors  in  the  world-histories.  Their 
place  and  their  function  are  pecuHarly  their  own.     In  their 

^  "Davison  on  Prophecy,"  p.  28  ;  1870. 


298  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIV. 

fervent  unselfishness,  in  their  lofty  aspirations,  in  their  intui- 
tional insight,  they  are  peerless.  In  following  their  foot- 
steps, the  student  realises  an  ennobling  companionship,  and 
cherishes  impressions  which  were  hitherto  unknown  to  him. 

Although  there  are  exceptions  to  this  general  statement, 
in  such  instances  as  those  of  Balaam  and  Caiaphas, — the 
one  an  umvillmg,  and  the  other  an  imconscious,  instrument,' — 
and  although  it  must  be  slightly  modified  to  meet  such  a 
faltering  of  faith,  and  love,  and  submissiveness  as  Jonah 
temporarily  exhibited,  or  such  selfishness  and  hardihood 
as  the  old  prophet  at  Bethel  showed,  they  only  the  more 
strikingly  manifest  the  general  rule  of  the  Divine  procedure 
as  in  harmony  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  Divine  purpose. 
The  greatness  of  the  prophets  of  the  Old  as  well  as  of  the 
New  Testament  is  distinctly  visible,  not  so  much  in  their 
unfolding  present  truth  and  instructing  the  people,  as  in  their 
insight  of  the  distant  future,  regarded  as  an  evolution  from 
the  present. 

The  truths  revealed,  and  the  spirit  of  the  revealers,  sepa- 
rate the  prophets  from  all  other  men.  Their  oracles  are  a 
phenomenon  which  cannot  be  overlooked.  They  are  alone, 
they  arrest  attention,  and  educe  a  feeling  of  awe.  The  two- 
fold function  of  prophecy,  while  it  pervades  Bible  history,  and 
unites  all  its  parts  so  as  to  constitute  an  organic  whole,  is 
itself  an  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  whicli  encourages 
the  believer  to  rest  with  confidence  in  the  controlling  wisdom 
and  power  of  God.  Our  Lord  himself  hath  said,  "  Now  I 
tell  you  before  it  come,  that,  when  it  is  come  to  pass,  ye  may 
believe  that  I  am  he.'" — John  xiii.  19. 

The  apparent  vagueness  of  some  of  the  prophecies  is  no 
valid  reason  for  rejecting  them.    While  some  are  confessedly 


1  "Fairbairn  on  Prophecy,"  p.  499;  2nd  edition. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  299 


difficult  of  interpretation,  there  is  a  necessity  for  vagueness, 
because  the  definite  revelation  of  future  events  would  arrest 
the  activity  and  mar  the  peace  of  nations  or  communities ; 
and  their  approach,  therefore,  is  so  enveloped  in  allegory, 
that  the  accomplishment  of  the  prophecy  becomes  its  clearest 
and  most  satisfactory  exposition.  "  Prophecy  must  thus,  in 
many  instances,  have  that  darkness  which  is  impenetrable 
at  first,  as  well  as  that  Hght  which  shall  completely  dispel 
every  doubt  at  last;  and  as  it  cannot  be  an  evidence  of 
Christianity  until  the  event  demonstrate  its  own  truth,  it  may 
remain  obscure  till  history  become  its  interpreter,  and  not  be 
perfectly  obvious  till  the  fulfilment  of  the  whole  series  with 
which  it  is  connected."  ^  But  with  the  obscure  prophecies 
it  is  unnecessary  here  to  occupy  time,  while  so  much  that  is 
indisputable  is  at  hand.  Let  it  be  miderstood,  however, 
that  while  some  are  detached  from  the  others  for  the  pur- 
poses of  our  general  argument,  all  the  prophecies  are  to  be 
held  related  to  one  another ;  they  converge  to  one  centre, 
Christ,  and  they  spread  from  this  centre,  outwards,  over  his 
extending  kingdom,  until  it  is  completely  encircled.  It  will 
be  enough  to  place  together,  by  way  of  illustration,  two  or 
three  prominent  examples  of  fulfilled  prophecy,  as  indicating 
a  line  of  proof  which,  to  many  minds  in  all  ages  of  the 
Church,  has  been  as  a  fountain  of  water  in  a  withering 
\vildemess. 

II.   The  Evidence  of  Prophecy. 

Sacred  History  and  Prophecy,  blending  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  Revelation,  still  continue  to  illustrate  the 
principles  of  the  Divine  Government.  The  words  of  the 
Great  Ruler,  spoken  after  the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  are 
distinctly  explanatory  of  the  misery  in  the  world,  and  of  the 


1  "Evidence  of  Prophecy,"  by  the  Rev,  Dr.  Keith,  p.  7.     1868. 


300  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIV. 


happiness  in  the  Church.  "  And  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed ; 
it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  liis  heel.  Unto 
the  woman  he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and 
thy  conception ;  in  sorrow  thou  shalt  bring  forth  children ; 
and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over 
thee.  And  unto  Adam  he  said,  Because  thou  hast  hearkened 
unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree,  of 
which  I  commanded  thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it : 
cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat 
of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life."  ^ 

In  this  brief  statement  is  the  germ  of  all  history.  Every 
Messianic  prophecy  is  traceable  to  it;  and  in  it  are  the 
secrets  of  human  sorrow  and  Christian  joy.  In  its  light  we 
can  more  easily  comprehend  the  universal  social  and  moral 
turmoil,  the  struggles  for  salvation,  the  triumphs  of  holiness, 
and  the  certainty  of  victory  when  "the  head''  of  the  serpent 
is  bruised,  and  the  evil  principle  has  become  powerless,  by 
which  man  was  se.duced  to  his  fall.  No  sooner  had  man 
lost  the  high  position  assigned  him,  and  passed  into  the 
gloom  of  condemnation,  than  the  first  prediction  beamed  in 
mercy  upon  him.  Its  light  is  the  dawn  and  dayspring  of 
Prophecy,  showing  that  "  Man  was  not  excluded  from 
Paradise  till  Prophecy  had  sent  him  forth  with  some  pledge 
and  hope  of  consolation.  - 

Within  this  wide  view  may  be  collected  all  the  prophecies 
of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  there  is  not  a  subordinate  pre- 
diction which  does  not  find  its  meaning  and  vindication  in 
this  briefly  unfolded  plan  of  redemption.  While  the  whole 
body  of  ancient  Prophecy  is  intimately  related  to  the  way  of 
salvation ;  and  ^vhile,  with  history  as  its  channel,  it  seems  to 


1  Genesis  iii.  15-17.  ^  "  Daviion  on  I'luphccy,"  p.  53. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLEEDING  LIGHTS.  3°! 

end  in  the  crucifixion  and  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
it  reappears  in  the  extension  of  Christianity,  and  in  its  pros- 
pects of  illimitable  blessedness. 

After  this  two-fold  sentence  of  condemnation  and  of  pro- 
mise. Prophecy  appears  in  two  distinct  forms,  the  one  pre- 
diction ///  words,  and  the  other  prediction  /;/  actions  ;  it  often 
sets  forth  the  same  truths,  now  verbally  and  now  in  types. 
While  they  are  mutually  illustrative,  and  while  there  is  abun- 
dant e\idence  of  supernatural  influence,  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  limit  this  part  of  the  argument  to  two  or  three  of  those 
more  comprehensive  prophecies  whose  fulfilment  history  is 
still  exhibiting  with  a  breadth  and  distinctness  which  cannot 
be  either  ignored  or  despised. 

I.  The  first  comprehensive  and  far-reaching  prophecy  after 
the  flood,  comes  to  us  in  the  words  of  Noah,  "And  he  said, 
Cursed  be  Canaan ;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto 
his  brethren.  And  he  said.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of 
Shem  ;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  sen-ant.  God  shall  enlarge 
Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  ;  and 
Canaan  shall  be  his  servant." — Genesis  ix.  25-27. 

For  more  than  three  thousand  years  this  prophecy  has 
been  historically  tested  and  verified.  The  rebuke  that  fell 
on  Canaan,  still  rests  on  his  race  ;  and  the  blessings  promised 
to  Shem  and  Japheth,  are  still  spreading  among  tlieir  de- 
scendants. 

The  sacred  historical  delineation  of  each  family  descend- 
ing from  Noah,  and  of  their  different  settlements,  affords  to 
us  the  means  of  ascertaining  whether  this  prophecy  is  hold- 
ing good  or  not. 

Japheth  and  his  descendants  had,  for  their  territory, 
Europe,  or  the  countries  beyond  the  Mediterranean.  "  By 
these  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  divided  in  their  lands  ; 
every   one   after   his   tongue,   after  their  families,  in   their 


30*  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP".  XIV. 

nations."^  The  descendants  of  Ham  had  Africa  and  the 
south-west  of  Asia  for  their  portion.  "  And  the  sons  of 
Hana ;  Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and  Phut,  and  Canaan.  .  .  . 
and  aftenvard  were  the  famihes  of  the  Canaanites  spread 
abroad.  And  the  border  of  the  Canaanites  was  from  Sidon."- 
Tyre,  and  Carthage  also,  whose  position  in  ancient  history 
was  so  distinguished,  were  their  cities.  The  sons  of  Shem 
and  their  famihes  had  their  home  in  the  East.  "And  their 
dwelHng  was  from  Mesha,  as  thou  goest  unto  Sephar,  a 
mount  of  the  East."^  The  respective  territories  of  Japheth, 
Ham,  and  Shem,  are  distinctly  outlined  ;  and  while  very 
many  changes  have  passed  over  their  separate  "  families," 
or  divisions  of  the  human  race,  these  old  distinctions  remain 
as  deep  as  ever.  Although  cursory  readers  regard  this  tenth 
chapter  as  valueless,  it  is  the  most  remarkable  historical 
document  in  existence  ;  remarkable,  because  associated  wth 
facts  in  the  past  which  have  been  established,  and  with  facts 
in  the  future  which  could  only  be  known  to  one  supernatur- 
ally  instructed.  No  page  of  history  can  be  made  parallel 
Avith  it.  The  records  of  succeeding  centuries  confinn  it,  and 
the  present  condition  of  the  world  is  its  commentary.  The 
descendants  of  Ham,  in  Africa,  are  "the  servant  of  servants," 
although,  at  the  beginning  of  their  history,  they  had  a  glor- 
ious career  in  Asia,  with  Babylon  as  their  centre ;  and  another 
triumphant  career  when  the  Carthaginians,  with  Hannibal  as 
leader,  almost  made  Rome  and  Europe  their  servant.  Simi- 
larly, at  the  close  of  their  history,  or  near  it,  grander  triumphs, 
because  moral  and  spiritual,  may  give  lustre  to  their  histor}', 
when  they  own  the  Sa\iour's  sway,  and  are,  with  Japheth 
and  Shem,  "the  servants"  of  the  Lord  alone. 

Now,  is  not  Japheth  "enlarged"  everywhere  by  extending 

^  Genesis  X.  5.  ''Ibid,  .\.  6,  18,  19.  ^Ibid,  x.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  3^3 

intellectual  and  political  influence  ?  Does  not  every 
emigrant  vessel  from  Europe,  as  it  carries  to  distant  lands 
the  foundation  of  new  colonies,  fulfil  and  establish  this  olden 
prophecy  ?  And  are  not  the  advances  of  Britain  in  India 
on  the  one  side,  and  of  Russia  on  the  other,  the  fulfilment, 
in  even  a  literal  sense,  of  the  declaration  that  Japheth  "  shall 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem"?  "^^^lat  simile,  drawn  from  the 
simplicity  of  primeval  ages,  could  be  more  strikingly  graphic 
of  the  numerous  and  extensive  European  colonies  in  Asia? 
And  how  much  have  the  posterity  of  Japheth  been  enlarged 
within  the  regions  of  the  posterity  of  Shem  ?  In  how  many 
of  their  ancient  cities  do  they  dwell  ?  How  many  settle- 
ments have  they  established?  while  there  is  not  a  single 
spot  in  Europe  the  colony  or  the  property  of  any  of  the 
nations  whom  the  Scriptures  represent  as  descended  from 
Shem,  or  who  inhabit  any  part  of  that  quarter  of  the  world 
which  they  possessed.  And  it  may  be  said  in  reference  to 
our  OUT!  island,  and  to  the  immense  extent  of  the  British 
Asiatic  dominions,  that  the  nations  of  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  the  East !  From  whence,  then,  could 
such  a  prophecy  have  emanated,  but  from  inspiration  by 
Him  whose  presence  and  whose  prescience  are  alike  un- 
limited by  space  or  by  time."  ^ 

2.  There  are  prophecies  which  require  historical  conditions 
for  their  fulfilment,  so  opposite  that  they  cannot  possibly  be 
reduced  within  the  sphere  of  the  merely  natural.,  and  to 
some  of  these  alone  we  shall  restrict  our  proof  The  follow- 
ing tests  are  not  only  applicable  to  them,  but  separate  them 
from  all  that  the  most  keen-sighted  sagacity  could  predict, — 
"  That  the  prediction  be  kno^\^l  to  have  been  promulgated 
before  the  event ;  that  the  event  in  question  be  such  as  could 

^  "The  Evidence  of  Prophecy,"  by  Dr.  Keith,  p.  523. 


304  BLENDIXG  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIV, 


not  have  been  foreseen,  at  the  time  when  it  was  predicted, 
by  any  effort  of  human  reason  ;  and  that  the  event  and  pre- 
diction correspond  together  in  a  clear  and  adequate  accom- 
plishment." ^  It  may  be  sufficient  for  our  argument  to 
restrict  ourselves  to  those  prophecies  which  have  reference 
to  three  nations  whose  histories  are  so  singular,  and  to  three 
cities  whose  overthrow  and  destruction  were  brought  about 
by  means  so  diverse,  that  they  cannot  possibly  be  explained 
by  any  natural  prescience,  however  vivid. 

Two  of  the  earliest  and  less  general  prophecies, — the  one 
referring  to  the  Ishmaelites,  the  other  to  the  Israelites, — are, 
in  their  fulfilment,  so  diverse,  that  no  unaided  human  being 
could  have  even  planned  such  a  future  as  in  the  least  degree 
probable. 

I.  The  prediction  regarding  Ishmael  is  remarkably  clear 
and  intelligible.  "  And  thou  shalt  bear  a  son,  and  shalt 
call  his  name  Ishmael.  .  .  .  And  he  will  be  a  wild 
man ;  his  hand  ii<ill  be  against  every  man,  and  every  man's 
hand  against  him  ;  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  all 
his  brethren.  .  .  .  Twelve  princes  sliall  he  beget,  and 
I  will  make  him  a  great  nation."  - 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  prophecy  was  not  promul- 
gated till  the  time  of  Moses ;  but  taking  the  facts  as  they 
lie  before  us  since  that  distant  time,  they  constitute  strongly 
presumptive  evidence  that  the  prophecy  was  uttered  before 
Ishmael's  birth,  and  was  preserved  in  the  traditions  and 
writings  of  the  people,  until  Moses  gave  it  a  pennanent 
place  in  the  Scripture  record. 

This  prophecy  has,  in  every  particular,  proved  true  ;  it  has 
photographed  a  national  character  which,  for  more  than  three 
thousand  years,  has  continued  unchanged. 

'  "Davison  on  Prophecy,"  p.  348.         "  Genesis  xvi.  J2  ;  xvii.  20. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDIiVG   LIGHTS.  3^5 

In  all  ages,  historians  have  described  the  Bedouin  Arab 
as  a  "  wild  man  "  or  wild  flijx-man ;  as  roving,  predatory, 
engaged  in  ceaseless  feuds  with  his  neighbours,  reckless  of 
the  milder  restraints  of  civilisation,  and  setting  at  defiance 
those  international  laws  which  regulate  the  intercourse  of 
surrounding  nations.  The  Ishmaelites  or  Arabians  have 
ever  held  fast  by  the  same  country.  Anchored  in  one 
land,  they  have  s\\aing  over  surrounding  communities,  only 
to  settle,  at  last,  in  their  own  appointed  territory,  and  to 
retain  precisely  the  same  characteristics.  The  "  wildness," 
which  in  other  tribes  and  nations  has  been  first  softened, 
then  effaced,  has,  in  their  features,  never  been  even  lessened 
by  the  lapse  of  ages.  Not  dispersed  by  conquest,  nor 
wasted  by  migration,  they  dwell  still  "  in  the  presence  of  all 
their  brethren,"  a  strange  national  spectacle,  utterly  inexpli- 
cable by  those  laws  which  regulate  other  races.  Comparatively 
fugitive  and  unstable  as  are  the  general  characteristics  of 
nations  while  the  influences  of  centuries  sweep  over  them  as 
tidal  waves  on  the  shore,  the  Ishmaelites  remain  the  same 
as  when  this  strangely-expressed  prophecy  was  first  uttered 
by  the  angel  of  the  Lord. 

The  more  powerful  national  influences,  the  attractions  of 
fairer  lands,  and  the  luxury  of  indolent  races,  utterly  failed 
to  change,  in  the  least,  their  characteristic  features,  during 
that  splendid  'period  when  their  empire  extended  from  the 
borders  of  India  to  the  Atlantic.  Through  all,  they  stood 
forth  a  perpetual  representation  of  the  the  facts  predicted  in 
their  history,  and  their  present  condition  harmonises  with 
that  of  many  ages  ago. 

2.  In  contrast  with  this  prophecy,  there  are  those  which 
delineate  the  marvellous  future  of  the  Jews  with  such  depth 
and  distinctness  that  they  arrest  the  most  careless  reader. 
Moses    foretold    their    future    when    their    prospect    was 

w 


3o6  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIV. 

brightened  by  the  increasing  light  of  fulfilled  promises,  as 
they  neared  the  land  of  Canaan.  Their  history,  at  the 
present  day,  cannot  be  ^VTitten  in  more  truthful  and  striking 
terms  than  in  those  which  Moses  used  three  thousand  years 
ago, — **  I  will  scatter  you  among  the  heathen,  and  will  draw 
out  a  sword  after  you;  and  your  land  shall  be  desolate,  and 
your  cities  waste.  .  .  .  And  upon  them  that  are  left 
alive  of  you,  I  will  send  a  faintness  into  their  hearts  in  the 
lands  of  their  enemies ;  and  the  sound  of  a  shaken  leaf  shall 
chase  them ;  and  they  shall  flee,  as  fleeing  from  a  sword ; 
and  they  shall  fall  when  none  pursueth.  .  .  .  And  ye 
shall  have  no  power  to  stand  before  your  enemies.  .  .  .  And 
yet  for  all  that,  when  they  be  in  the  land  of  their  enemies, 
I  will  not  cast  them  away,  neither  will  I  abhor  them,  to 
destroy  them  utterly."  ^  "  The  Lord  shall  bring  thee,  and 
thy  king,  which  thou  shalt  set  over  thee,  unto  a  nation 
which  neither  thou  nor  thy  fathers  have  known. 
And  thou  shalt  become  an  astonishment,  a  proverb,  and 
a  by-word  among  all  nations.  .  .  .  And  the  Lord  shall 
scatter  thee  among  all  people,  from  the  one  end  of  the 
earth  even  unto  the  other."  -  Long  afterwards,  the  prophets 
wrote  in  the  same  strain.  "  I  will  cause  them  to  be  removed 
into  all  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  ...  I  will  cast  you  out 
into  a  land  that  ye  know  not."  ^  "  For,  lo,  I  will  com- 
mand, and  I  will  sift  the  house  of  Israel  among  all  nations, 
like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve,  yet  shall  not  the  least  grain 
fall  upon  the  earth."  •* 

These  are  merely  examples  of  many  predictions  which 
might  be  quoted ;  they  have  the  clearness  of  history,  and 
they  have   now   the    emphasis    of  a    fulfilment   which    is 


*  Leviticus  xxvi.  33,  36,  37,  44.  -  Deuteronomy  xxviii.  36,  37,  64. 

^  Jeremiah  xv.  4,  xvi.  13.        ■*  Amos  ix.  9. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  307 

mysterious  in  its  antecedent  process,  but  clear  as  noonday 
in  its  results.  By  the  laws  of  amalgamation  or  extinction, 
we  can  account  for  the  changes  which  appear  in  the  smaller 
as  well  as  vaster  nations  of  the  world ;  we  can  trace  the 
causes  by  which  Hungary  and  Poland  have  been  prostrated, 
and  by  which  Russia  is  still  rising  and  extending  in  her 
colossal  strength ;  we  can  see  in  the  ruin  of  France,  in  the 
triumph  of  Prussia,  and  the  gradual  collapse  of  the  Turkish 
Empire,  various  forces  at  work  which  have  often  reappeared 
in  history ;  we  can  trace  in  the  slow  amalgamation  of  races 
in  America,  and  in  the  rapid  disappearance  of  Indian  tribes, 
laws  definite  almost  as  those  which  regulate  the  planetary 
system ;  we  have  a  sound  philosophy  of  history,  whose  great 
aim  is  not  the  mere  aggregate  of  many  facts,  but  the  exposi- 
tion of  their  causes,  and  we  are  satisfied  with  the  conclusions 
which  have  been  reached  ;  but  in  the  Israelites  we  have  a 
people  which  baffle  historical  adjustment,  and  whose 
characteristics  are  not  reducible  within  any  commonly- 
recognised  classification.  They  remain  a  marvellous  isol- 
ation. In  Britain,  the  distinctions  of  Norman  and  Celt 
and  Saxon  are  fast  disappearing ;  but  the  Jews  are  every- 
where "scattered,"  and  yet  everyAvhere  retain  not  only 
their  physical  features,  but  their  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  conformation.  Apart  from  the  Bible,  unaided 
reason  has  failed  to  solve  the  problem  of  a  people  scattered 
and  down-trodden  by  the  nations  for  nearly  two  thousand 
years,  yet  universally  preserved, 

Wliat  a  terrible  past  has  been  theirs  !  What  a  mysterious 
present !  "  Plucked  from  off  their  omi  land,"  and  "  smitten 
before  their  enemies,"  they  yet  survive,  not  obscurely,  but 
with  historical  lustre,  as  in  a  mirror's  scattered  fragments, 
and  with  a  prominence  which  the  world  o^vns.  Adrian 
made  it  death  to  the  Jew  to  set  his  foot  amid  the  ruins  of 


3o8  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  [chap.  XIV. 

Jerusalem ;  Justinian  abolished  the  synagogues  ;  Mahomet 
sought  the  destmction  of  every  Jew;  the  Church  of  Rome 
has  done  her  best  for  their  extirpation,  and  has  failed  ;  the 
thunders  of  her  excommunication  have  rolled  over  every 
land  which  her  influence  could  reach  ;  "  the  Jews "  were 
everyAvhere  the  objects  of  popular  insult,  of  almost  intolerable 
oppression,  and  frequently  of  a  general  massacre.  No 
mode  of  cruelty  was  deemed  unjustifiable.  Again  and 
again  were  they  banished  from  France ;  they  were  driven 
from  Spain ;  England,  during  the  Crusades,  gathered  her 
forces  to  destroy  them ;  the  barons,  to  win  popular  favour 
during  their  struggle  Avith  Henry  III.,  slaughtered  seven 
hundred  of  them,  and  plundered  their  houses ;  Edward  I. 
seized  all  their  property,  and  drove  them  in  misery  from  the 
kingdom,  and  four  hundred  dreary  years  elapsed  ere  they 
ventured  to  return.  There  is  no  history  \\hich  is  not 
darkened  by  their  wrongs,  and  there  is  none  unstained  by 
their  blood.  Most  fearful  has  been  the  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecies  that  they  shall  be  a  "  proverb,"  an  "  astonish- 
ment,'' a  "  by-word,"  a  "  taunt,"  and  a  "  hissing  among  all 
nations."  ^  The  Jew  is,  at  this  moment,  a  wanderer  in  every 
land,  with  a  home  in  none.  In  no  country  is  he  unknown, 
from  Norway  to  Japan,  from  Spain  to  Southern  Africa  ;  and 
no  social  grade  in  the  East  or  the  ^^'est  is  without  his 
presence.  In  Shiraz,  as  Dr.  Wolf  has  told  us,  young  men,  old 
men,  and  women,  sit  on  the  streets  begging.  With  head  bowed 
doAvn,  and  hand  stretched  out,  they  cry  piteously  to  the 
stranger, — "  Only  one  penny,  only  one  penny,  I  am  a  poor 
Israelite,  I  am  a  poor  Israelite."  "  I  wonder  not,"  he  adds, 
"  that  their  harp  is  mute."     From  that  sunken  state  in  the 


'See  "Keith  on  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,"  and  Hallam's  History, 
vol.  I. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  309 

East,  and  from  similar  obscurity  and  apparent  helplessness  in 
every  one  of  our  great  cities,  they  rise  through  every  social 
stage,  until  they  sit  honoured  amid  the  proudest.  In  London, 
Paris,  Vienna,  and  Berlin,  they  are  the  money-holders  of 
Europe,  deciding  the  questions  of  peace  and  war,  and  giving 
impulse  or  restraint  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Although 
inwrought  with  the  whole  fabric  of  society,  they  are  yet  not 
of  it ;  they  are  truly  a  "  peculiar  people,"  resisting  almost 
all  those  social,  intellectual,  and  moral  agencies  by  which 
communities  are  changed. 

Their  preservation  seems  all  the  more  astonishing  when 
we  remember  that  locality  was  part  of  their  religious  system. 
Jerusalem  was  essential  to  it.  The  Christian  may  build  his 
church,  or  the  Pagan  his  temple,  wherever  he  pleases ;  but 
the  Jew  may  build  his  nowhere  save  in  the  Holy  City. 
Thus,  their  religion  was  localised;  but  they  still  cleave  to 
the  past,  and  still  look  wistfully  yet  with  brightening  hope 
to  the  future.  For  more  than  sixty  generations  have  they 
thus  mingled  with  the  Gentile  races,  yet  they  have  kept 
aloof,  they  have  eaten  the  passover,  and  have  been  sandalled 
for  the  expected  fulfilment  of  many  prophecies.  How 
account  foi-  these  strange  facts?  How  explain  the  move- 
ments of  Jewish  history?  The  philosophy  of  history  has 
hitherto  failed.  The  condition  of  this  mysterious  people 
has  proved  inexplicable  by  any  of  the  ordinary  laws  of 
human  history.  By  the  Scriptures  alone  we  are  guided  to 
the  right  solution.  The  Jews  are  dispersed,  but  not  de- 
stroyed ;  because  the  Lord  of  Glory,  by  whom  they  have 
been  condemned,  has  purposes  yet  unfulfilled.  But  how 
explain  the  fact,  except  by  admitting  the  supernatural  ? 
That  these  conditions  have  been  actually  foretold  so  many 
centuries  before,  cannot  be  disputed,  for  the  prophecies  have 
a  place  in  the  oldest  writings  in  the  world.     Similarly  dark 


3lo  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.'xiv. 

sa}nngs  have  been  spoken  in  succeeding  ages.  Results,  un- 
imaginable by  human  wisdom,  have  been  boldly  predicted, 
and  they  have  appeared  mysteriously  in  the  manner  antici- 
pated. As  the  human  mind  often  vacillates  regarding  even 
the  nearest  events  and  their  issues,  is  it  in  the  least  degree 
probable  that  it  could  have  ever  so  penetrated  the  secrets  of 
time  as  accurately  to  anticipate  Jewish  history  ?  Is  there 
not  fullest  evidence  in  all  that  bears  upon  the  condition  of 
the  Jews,  that  a  higher  knowledge  than  man's  has  been 
making  their  future  known  ?  The  prophetic  record  is  not 
made  up  of  random  conjectures  or  gloomy  forebodings. 
"  There  is  not  only  foresight,  but  foresight  of  a  most 
impartial  and  discriminating  kind,  capable  alike  of  descrying 
the  darker  and  the  brighter  aspects  of  the  future ;  dwelling 
even  with  painful  emphasis  on  the  coming  evil,  and  reiter- 
ating it,  yet  without  ever  losing  sight  of  the  coming  good ; 
and  even  when  the  clouds  of  present  trouble  gathered 
thickest,  only  proceeding  with  a  clearer  eye  and  a  more 
assured  step  to  reveal  the  glorious  and  blessed  future  that 
lay  beyond.  Most  remarkably  have  both  parts  of  the  pro- 
spective outline  been  fulfilled."  ^  It  "  seems  undeniable 
that  most  striking  fulfilments  have  taken  place  of  what  no 
merely  human  eye  could  have  foreseen,  nor  the  shrewdest 
intellect  anticipated."  -'  And  we  reassert  that  the  argument 
has  all  the  greater  weight,  when  we  contrast  the  future  of 
Ishmael  with  the  future  of  Israel,  and  the  dissimilar  agencies 
by  which  their  destiny  has  hitherto  been  detennined. 
Ishmael  still  localised  in  Arabia,  and  Israel  dispersed  over 
the  whole  world,  are  separate  yet  stedfast  witnesses  of  a 
ruling  hand  behind  tlieir  extraordinary  histories. 

3.  Older  than  the  Ishmaclites  and  the  Israelites,  civilised 

*  "  Fairbairn  on  Prophecy,"  p.  222.      '^  Ibid,  p.  223. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  S^I 


and  powerful  before  their  different  races  had  any  appreciable 
influence  on  the  world,  the  Egyptians  had  maintained  their 
matchless  powers ;  and  the  splendours  of  their  early  empire 
are  still  seen,  though  dimly,  in  Thebes  and  Memphis,  in 
Heliopolis  and  Phibeseth,in  pyramids,  obelisks,  and  sphinxes. 
Everything  in  Egypt's  early  history  betokened  a  continuance 
of  her  power  \  in  subsequent  centuries,  temporary  reverses 
were  soon  corrected,  and  yet,  in  the  midst  of  abounding 
evidences  of  stability,  prophets  foretold  a  national  history 
altogether  peculiar,  and  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of 
either  Ishmael  or  Israel.  Through  the  same  laws  of  human 
foresight  or  sagacity,  the  rationalist  cannot  possibly  account 
for  predictions  so  widely  varying,  as  those  which  describe 
the  future  of  the  Arabians,  the  Jews,  and  the  Egyptians, 

National  changes,  that  are  utterly  inconsistent  with 
those  anticipations  which  the  previous  course  of  Egyptian 
history  should  have  suggested,  were  foretold  with  the  most 
fearless  confidence.  The  minuter,  as  well  as  the  more 
general  prophecies,  have  been  notably  fulfilled;  but  it  is 
necessary  for  our  present  object  to  refer  only  to  two  or  three 
of  those  more  prominent  predictions  which  describe  Egypt's 
future  state. 

"  And  they  shall  be  there  a  base  kingdom.  It  shall  be 
the  BASEST  OF  THE  KINGDOMS ;  neither  shall  it  exalt  itself 
any  more  above  the  nations :  for  I  will  diminish  them,  that 
they  shall  no  more  rule  over  the  nations."  ^  "  And  there 
shall  NO  MORE  be  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt :  and  I  will 
put  a  fear  in  the  land  of  Egypt."  ^ 

The  condition  of  Egypt  is  so  different  from  that  of  the 
Jews  or  Ishmaelites,  that  "  he  who  runs  may  read  it ; "  the 
former  are  scattered  and  without  a  home,  and  the  latter 

^  Ezekiel  xxix.  I4)  I5>    ^  Ibid  xxx.  13, 


3i2  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

are  independent  and  free  as  they  were  three  thousand  years 
ago :  but  Egypt  has  sunk  to  be  base  among  the  nations, 
and  to  be  ruled  by  foreigners  or  strangers.  That  kingdom 
which  was  long  the  most  powerful  and  most  honoured 
among  the  nations  of  the  world,  has  become  the  helpless 
victim  of  successive  oppressors.  AssjTia  first  rivalled  her 
splendour,  and,  after  lessening  her  power  for  a  season, 
humbled  her.  Three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  the  Persians  reduced  her  to  a  comparatively 
degraded  condition,  and  in  succession  the  Macedonians, 
the  Romans,  the  Saracens,  the  Mamelukes,  and  the  Turks 
have  trodden  her  fertile  plains  and  greatly  embarrassed  her. 
Although  Egypt  temporarily  revived  under  the  vigorous 
rule  of  the  Ptolemies,  they  were  "  foreigners,"  and  the  pre- 
dictions held  true,  "  there  shall  no  more  be  a  prince  of  the 
land  of  Egypt :"  "  The  sceptre  of  Egypt  shaU  depart  away." 
For  more  than  two  thousand  years  the  degradation  of  the 
kingdom  has  been  painfully  visible  amid  the  profusion  of 
nature's  benefits.  Its  comparati\ely  ignominious  state,  its 
acknowledged  baseness  among  nations  in  the  midst  of  which 
it  is  still  lingering,  enfeebled  and  paralytic,  so  distinctly 
fulfil  the  bold  prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  that  we  are 
justified  in  demanding  the  acceptance  of  supernatural  teach- 
ing as  the  explanation  of  Egypt's  varying  history.  Every 
fact  which  travellers  describe,  and  the  past  and  the  present 
historical  photographs  by  which  modern  inquiries  have 
assisted  the  student  of  prophecy,  so  vindicate  and  confirm 
the  truth  of  the  predictions,  that  no  one  can  escape  without 
difticulty  from  the  impression  that  the  prophets  were  super- 
naturally  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the  truths  which 
they  have  written.^ 

^  See  "Fairbaim  on  Prophecy,"  pp.  208,  209. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  313 


There  is  another  series  of  prophecies  minuter,  and  in 
some  of  their  aspects  more  specilic,  which  yet,  in  detail  and 
results,  are  so  different  that  no  rationaHstic  theory  can 
possibly  harmonise  and  explain  them.  The  predictions 
regarding  I'yre,  Nineveh,  and  Babylon,  are  so  distinct, 
and  they  have  been  so  literally  fulfilled,  that  it  is  almost 
inconceivable  how  any  unprejudiced  student  can  repudiate 
the  idea  of  a  deeper  insight  and  a  surer  guidance  than 
man's. 

The  prophecies  were  uttered  when  these  great  cities  were 
basking  in  the  light  of  prosperity,  and  there  was  no  likelihood 
of  ruin.  With  our  knowledge  of  ages  of  history,  and,  conse- 
quently, of  those  laws  that  determine  the  growth  and  decay 
of  nations,  we  might  anticipate  with  tolerable  accuracy  the 
upbreaking  of  an  empire,  or  the  overthrow  of  a  city;  but 
this  experience  was  not  possessed  by  the  prophets,  and 
even  if  they  had  possessed  such  knowledge  of  national 
history  as  men  now  enjoy,  they  could  not  possibly  have 
described  with  such  exactness  ruins  so  different  as  are 
those  of  the  cities  to  which  reference  has  just  been  made. 
Not  only  are  the  prophecies  general  in  their  outline,  but 
they  state  such  distinct  particulars  as  no  mere  human  fore- 
sight could  have  discovered.  Let  us  notice  them  briefly  in 
detail. 

I.  Those  predictions  which  relate  to  Tyre  are  very  clearly 
embodied  in  the  writings  of  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel.  While 
Tyre  was  the  very  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the  civilised 
world,  and  Carthage,  the  rival  of  Rome,  was  one  of  her 
colonies,  Isaiah,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  before 
her  overthrow,  with  almost  overwhelming  earnestness,  fore- 
told her  approaching  fate ;  and  with  singular  vividness 
Ezekiel  wrote  beforehand  the  details  of  her  devastation. 
"  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold,  I  am  against 


314  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIV. 


thee,  O  T}Tus,  and  ^^^ll  cause  many  nations  to  come  up 
against  thee,  as  the  sea  causcth  his  waves  to  come  up.  And 
they  shaU  destroy  the  walls  of  Tyrus,  and  break  down  her 
towers :  I  will  also  scrape  her  dust  from  her,  and  make  her 
like  the  top  of  a  rock.  It  shall  be  a  place  for  the  spreading 
of  nets  in  the  midst  of  the  sea :  for  I  have  spoken  //,  saith 
the  Lord  God ;  and  it  shall  become  a  spoil  to  the  nations. 
And  they  shall  make  a  spoil  of  thy  riches,  and  make  a  prey 
of  thy  merchandise ;  and  they  shall  break  down  thy  walls, 
and  destroy  thy  pleasant  houses :  and  they  shall  lay  thy 
stones,  and  thy  timber,  and  thy  dust,  in  the  midst  of  the 
water.  And  I  will  make  thee  like  the  top  of  a  rock :  thou 
shalt  be  a  place  to  spread  nets  upon ;  thou  shalt  be  built  no 
more :  for  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  //,  saith  the  Lord  God. 
I  will  make  thee  a  terror,  and  thou  shalt  be  no  more :  though 
thou  be  sought  for,  yet  shalt  thou  never  be  found  again,  saith 
the  Lord  God."  ^ 

These  predictions  have  been  literally  fulfilled,  but  at  inter- 
vals of  time.  Looking  at  lights  in  a  straight  line,  we 
suppose  there  is  only  one  shining,  but  no  sooner  is  the  one 
passed  than  we  discover  others  in  succession :  so  is  it  in 
this  prophecy:  its  lights  are  separate  yet  continuous ;  part 
was  fulfilled  at  one  time,  and  part  at  another.  For  thirteen 
years  Nebuchadnezzar  plied  the  siege  of  Tyre,  "  the  head 
became  bald,"  and  "  the  shoulder  peeled."  Sorely  pressed, 
the  Tyrians,  having  transferred  their  families  and  their  wealth 
to  an  island  close  to  the  shore,  abandoned  old  or  continental 
Tyre  to  the  army  of  the  besieger.  Enraged  by  finding  that 
the  citizens  and  their  treasures  had  been  removed  beyond 
their  reach,  they  completely  destoyed  the  city ;  they  left  it 
an  utter  ruin  ;  and  they  appear  to  ha\e  carried  into  captivity 

1  Ezekiel  x.xvi,  1-5,  12,  14,  21. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  315 

the  Tynan  royal  family.  The  subjection  continued  until  the 
end  of  "  the  seventy  years  "  referred  to  by  Isaiah  xxiii.  15-17, 
when  the  Babylonian  monarchy  was  set  aside  by  the  Persians. 
Not  until  Alexander  the  Great  carried  his  conquests  east- 
ward was  insular  Tyre  attacked,  and  as  '■''the  stones,  and  the 
timber,  and  the  dust "  of  old  Tyre  were  cast  into  the  sea  to 
form  a  passage  from  the  shore  to  new  Tyre,  for  Alexander's 
troops,  the  old  prophecy  was  literally  fulfilled.  Thus,  the 
very  city  was  "cast  into  the  sea,"  and  is  "no  more;" 
though  sought  for  "  it  cannot  be  found."  The  desolation  is 
complete.  Insular  Tyre  fell  beneath  the  relentless  arm  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  it  is  now  literally,  as  travellers 
describe  it,  "a  place  for  the  spreading  of  nets  in  the  midst 
of  the  sea." 

2.  The  prophecies  regarding  Nineveh  differ  much  from 
those  which  describe  the  overthrow  of  Tyre.  Taken  literally 
and  apart  from  what  has  been  recently  ascertained  by  mound 
explorers,  they  appear  to  be  unlikely,  if  not  contradictory, 
in  their  reference  to  the  means  by  which  the  city  was  to  be 
destroyed.  The  accounts  of  Nineveh  in  other  writings  than 
the  Bible,  confirm  its  delineations  of  its  strength  and  grandeur. 
Heathen  historians  have  described  its  walls  as  a  hundred  feet 
in  height,  sixty  miles  in  circumference,  and  defended  by 
fifteen  hundred  towers,  which  were  two  hundred  feet  high. 
With  marvellous  force  and  vividness  does  the  prophet  Nahum 
proclaim  the  means  by  which  this  great  city  would  be  over- 
thrown, and  the  permanence  of  its  desolation.  By  two 
opposite  elements, — the  flood  and  the  fire, — was  its  over- 
throw to  be  achieved ;  though  vast  in  its  extent  and  com- 
manding in  its  power,  it  was  yet  to  be  covered  with  abomin- 
able filth,  and  "  made  vile ; "  and  though  glorious  in  its 
position  among  the  nations,  it  was  destined  to  become  "a 
gazing  stock.'     " But  with  an  over-running  flood  he  will 


3^6  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XIV. 

make  an  utter  end  of  the  place  thereof."  ^  "  The  gates  of 
the  rivers  shall  be  opened,  and  the  palace  shall  be  dis- 
solved." -  But  Fire  also  was  to  be  a  worker  for  the  destmc- 
tion  of  this  doomed  city.  "  For  while  they  be  folden  together 
as  thorns,  and  while  they  are  drunken  as  drunkards,  they 
shall  be  devoured  as  stubble  fully  dry."  ^  "  The  Fire  shall 
devour  thy  bars."  ■*  "  There  shall  the  fire  devour  thee."  ^ 
To  a  heathen  witness  are  we  indebted  for  evidence  of  the 
fulfilment  of  these  seemingly  incongruous  predictions,  and 
that  evidence  is  complete.  He  has  told  us  that  after  the 
Assyrian  King  had  gained  these  great  victories  over  his 
enemies,  and  their  power  seemed  utterly  broken,  he  and 
his  soldiers  abandoned  themselves  to  revelry.  But  the 
Medes  and  Persians  having  rallied  their  scattered  forces, 
and  having  received  in  the  Bactrians  a  new  ally,  suddenly 
fell  on  the  Assyrian  monarch  and  his  army,  when  they  had 
given  themselves  as  slaves  to  drink,  and  they  so  completely 
overwhelmed  them  that  the  Assyrian  King  had  to  betake 
himself  to  the  city  and  remain  shut  within  its  walls  as  a 
captive.  Thus  was  the  prophecy  fulfilled,  "  While  they  are 
drunken  as  drunkards  they  shall  be  devoured  as  stubble  fully 
dry,"  Completely  crushed  by  an  overwhelming  force,  they 
were  in  their  weakness  "  folden  as  thorns."  For  two  years 
the  Assyrian  monarch  was  secure  within  the  strongly-fortified 
city,  but  in;i_the , third  year,  when  he  had  made  vigorous  pre- 
parations for  retrieving  his  position,  an  unexpected  inundation 
of  the  river  Tigris  broke  down  the  massive  wall  and  carried 
away  about  twenty  furlongs  of  it ;  "  the  gates  of  the  river 
were  opened "  "  with  an  over-running  flood,"  a  breach 
was  made;  and  the  king,  feeling  that  all  was  now  lost,  made 
for  himself  and  his  associates  a  large  funeral  pile  of  wood, 

1  Nahum  chap.  i.  8.        » ii.  6.         » i.  lo        *  iii.  13.         » iii.  15 


:hap.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  317 

md  placing  on  it  his  gold  and  silver  and  apparel,  he  perished 
kvith  them.  Most  unlikely  as  was  the  combination,  the 
Fire  also  did  its  predicted  work,  and  thus  the  palace  was 
dissolved,  or  literally  "  molten." 

The  same  heathen  historian  has  told  us  that  many  talents 
of  gold  and  silver  which  were  preserved  from  the  fire  and 
found  throughout  the  city,  were  carried  off  by  the  enemy  to 
Ecbatana,  and  from  recent  sources  we  have  learned  that  the 
implements  of  war,  the  robes,  the  ornaments,  the  ear-rings, 
the  bracelets,  the"  vases,  the  chairs,  the  tables,  the  ordinary 
articles  of  domestic  furniture,  were  designed  \A\\\  such  con- 
summate taste  as  "to  rival  the  productions  of  the  most 
cultivated  period  of  Greek  art."  And  does  not  this  explain 
the  prophetic  injunction,  "  Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver,  take 
ye  the  spoil  of  gold  \  for  there  is  none  end  of  the  store  a7id 
GLORY  out  of  all  the  pleasant  furniture."  '^ 

The  completeness  of  the  destruction  and  the  permanence 
of  the  desolation  were  foretold  with  such  bold  distinctness, 
as  to  give  the  impression  that  Nahum's  language  was  merely 
hyperbolical,  but  the  results  have  proved  to  the  very  letter 
its  historical  accuracy.  The  Lord  "  \\dll  make  an  utter  end 
of  the  place  thereof"  "Affliction  shall  not  rise  up  the 
second  time."  "She  is  empty,  and  void,  and  waste."  "Nine- 
veh is  laid  waste:  who  will  bemoan  her?""'-  And  Zephaniah, 
with  a  boldness  no  less  arresting  and  impressive,  proclaimed 
Nineveh's  destruction  and  ruin.  "  The  Lord  "  will  make 
Nineveh  a  desolation,  and  dry  like  a  wilderness.  And  flocks 
shall  lie  do\\Ti  in  the  midst  of  her,  all  the  beasts  of  the 
nations  :  both  the  cormorant  and  the  bittern  shall  lodge  in 
the  upper  lintels  of  it;  their  voice  shall  sing  in  the  windows  ; 
desolation  shall  be  in  the  thresholds  :  for  he  shall  uncover 

^  Nahum  ii.  9.  -  Nahuni  i,  8,  9  ;  ii.,  10 ;  ii.,  7. 


3l8  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  [CHAP.  XIV. 

the  cedar  work."  "  How  is  she  become  a  desolation,  a  place 
for  beasts  to  lie  down  in  ! "  ^ 

Fearfully  and  most  con\'incingly  have  all  these  predictions 
been  fulfilled.  Nineveh  has  gone  do\vn  in  "utter  ruin." 
**  Affliction  has  not  risen  up  a  second  time."  The  very  ruins 
were  lost.  Mounds  of  "abominable  filth"  were  cast  on 
the  place  where  her  palaces  stood,  making  her  "  vile" ;  and 
all  that  Layard,  Botta,  and  others  have  done  in  opening  her 
ruins  and  exposing  her  long-buried  treasures,  have  given  a 
new  fulfilment  to  the  prophecy  by  making  her  "a  gazing- 
stock  "  to  the  whole  civilised  world. 

3.  No  less  distinct  were  the  prophecies  regarding  the  de- 
struction of  Babylon,  but  the  means  of  the  overthrow  were 
so  different  from  those  by  which  Nineveh  was  overwhelmed, 
that  the  prediction  carries  within  itself  indirect  evidence  of 
its  truth.  One  hundred  and  sixty  years  before  an  enemy 
approached  the  city,  its  doom  was  foretold.  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah,  with  startling  vividness,  and  yet  in  tones  of  deepest 
sadness,  delineate  the  future  of  Babylon  at  the  time  when 
its  glory  and  strength  bade  defiance  to  every  prediction. 
Most  mysteriously  have  the  springs  of  history  been  touched, 
and  most  distinctly  have  prophetic  results  been  brought  out. 
Long  descriptive  passages  in  the  Bible  might  be  quoted, 
but  two  or  three  will  be  sufiicient  for  our  argument.  "  Be- 
hold, I  will  stir  up  the  Medes  against  them,  which  shall  not 
regard  silver  ;  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in  it. 
And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the 
Chaldees'  excellence,  shall  be  as  when  God  o^■erthrew  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah.  It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  neither  shall 
it  be  dwelt  in  fi-om  generation  to  generation  :  neither  shall 
the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there ;   neither  shall  the  shepherds 

^  Zephaniah  ii.  13,  14,  15. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  319 


make  their  fold  there :  but  the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert 
SHALL  LIE  THERE  ;  and  their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful 
creatures ;  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall  dance 
there.  And  the  wild  beasts  of  the  islands  shall  cry  in  their 
desolate  houses,  and  dragons  in  their  pleasant  palaces."^ 
Again,  ''And  Babylon  shall  become  heaps,  a  dwelling-place 
for  dragons,  an  astonishment,  and  a  hissing,  without  an  in- 
habitant." 2  These  and  similar  predictions  of  overthrow  and 
utter  ruin  have  been  literally  fulfilled,  as  every  one  knows 
who  has  even  very  cursorily  read  the  history  of  the  ancient 
eastern  monarchies.  No  less  strangely  were  the  means  an- 
nounced by  which  this  powerful  city  was  to  be  ovenvhelmed, 
and  no  less  exactly  have  the  results  come  forth  as  predicted. 
For  the  taking  of  Nineveh,  a  river  was  to  rise  and  make  a 
breach ;  but  for  the  taking  of  Babylon  a  river  was  to  be 
withdrawn,  and  its  deserted  bed  was  to  be  a  highway  for  the 
approach  of  Cyrus's  soldiers.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  "  that  saith 
unto  the  deep.  Be  dry ;  and  I  will  drv  up  thy  rivers."  ^ 
"A  drought  is  upon  her  waters;  and  they  shall  be  dried 
up."'*  ''And  I  will  dry  up  her  sea,  and  make  her  springs 
dry."  •''  The  secrecy  of  the  approach  and  the  helplessness 
of  the  ensnared  Babylonians,  were  no  less  clearly  taught  in 
such  predictions  as  these :  "  I  have  laid  a  snare  for  thee, 
and  thou  art  also  taken,  O  Babylon,  and  thou  wast  not 
AWARE :  thou  art  found,  and  also  caught,  because  thou 
hast  striven  against  the  Lord."  ^  It  is  unnecessary  to  repeat 
the  well-known  facts  of  Cynis  having  turned  the  river 
Euphrates  from  its  course,  and  of  his  troops  passing  secretly 
into  the  city  when  Belshazzar  was  madly  quaffing  wine  from 
the  vessels  of  the  Sanctuary,  until  the  mysterious  handwrit- 

1  Isaiah  xiii.  17,  19-22.         -Jeremiah  11.  37.  '  Isaiah  xliv.  27. 

*  Jeremiah  1.  38.         '^  Ibid  h,  36.         "  Jeremiah  1.  24. 


320  BLEXDJKG   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

ing  on  the  wall  paralysed  him  with  terror.  Babylon  was 
*'  snared  and  caught."  The  soldiers  having  been  taught  by 
Cyrus  that  the  doors  of  the  houses  were  of  palm-wood  and 
covered  with  bitumen,  secretly  carried  torches  \\ith  them 
and  suddenly  set  fire  to  the  city,^  fulfilling  the  prediction, — 
"And  her  high  gates  shall  be  burned  \\\i\\  fire;  and 
the  people  shall  labour  in  vain,  and  the  folk  in  the  fire, 
and  they  shall  be  weary."  -  So  complete  was  the  stratagem 
of  Cyrus,  so  sudden  the  seizure  of  the  place,  and  so  silent 
and  sure  its  overthrow,  that  those  in  the  one  part  of  the 
city  did  not  know  for  some  time  what  disasters  had  over^ 
taken  another  portion  of  the  inhabitants.  In  ever)-  particu- 
lar have  the  prophecies  been  fulfilled,  and  they  differ  so 
completely  in  arrangement  from  those  relating  to  Tyre  and 
Nineveh  as  to  remove  them  from  any  of  the  common  eflforts 
of  that  sagacity  or  foresight  of  which  rationalism  has  recently 
attempted  to  make  so  much. 

In  short,  the  details  are  so  varied,  and  yet  so  accurately 
stated  regarding  both  the  means  by  which  these  great  cities 
were  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  permanence  of  their  ruin,  that 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any  unprejudiced  student  can 
escape  the  impression  that  the  prophets  were  supernaturally 
guided. 

'  Xenophon,  Book  I.  cliap.  cxci.         "  Jeremiah  li.  5S. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Recent  Theories  regarding  the  Supernatural  and  the  Reign  of 
Law — Evidence  in  Nature  of  the  Stiper natural. 

"The  battle  against  the  supernatural  has  been  going  on  long,  and 
strong  men  have  conducted  and  arc  conducting  it ;  but  what  they 
want  is  a  weapon.  The  logic  of  unbelief  wants  a  universal.  But  no 
real  universal  is  forthcoming,  and  it  only  wastes  its  strength  in  wielding 
a  fictitious  one." — The  Rev.  J.  B.  Mozley,  B.D. 

THE  careful  study  of  the  Bible  constrains  those  who 
are  not  wedded  to  some  foregone  conclusion,  to 
acknowledge  impressions  or  ideas  of  a  supernatural  influence 
such  as  are  created  by  the  perusal  of  no  other  book.  The 
brief  review  which  we  have  taken  of  history  in  its  relation 
to  Prophecy,  has  shown  an  enlightening  and  a  controlling 
power  which  is  not  recognisable  within  the  sphere  of 
ordinary  records.  But  in  accepting  and  advocating  the 
existence  of  supernatural  influences,  we  have  to  confront 
relentless  opposition. 

Animated  by  an  intense  love  of  nature,  and  sensitively 
jealous  of  even  the  slightest  reference  to  the  supernatural, 
some  of  our  most  influential  writers  are  not  only  repudiating 
every  agency  which  is  independent  of  physical  tests,  but 
assigning  to  the  laws  of  nature  an  executive  or  administrative 
function.  They  are  investing  them  with  powers  which  can 
only  be  legitimately  connected  with  intelligence  and  purpose; 
and  the  scorn  with  which  they  repel  every  allusion  to  direct 
control  by  a  personal  Deity,  is  less  perplexing  than  it  is 
saddening.      The  repudiation  of  the  supernatural  is,  with 

X 


32  2  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XV. 

them,  axiomatic ;  they  put  the  cause  out  of  court ;  they  can 
see  in  nature  nothing  more  than  a  rigidly  regulated  system, 
and  they  limit  the  basis  of  their  philosophy  to  those  forces 
and  phenomena  with  which  alone  physical  science  is 
conversant.  They  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  the  Creator 
"  cannot  be  imagined  "  as  acting  on  the  line  of  cause  and 
effect,  and  that  even  by  His  own  hand  no  law  can  be 
deflected  or  reversed.  He  has  not  the  liberty  of  acting, 
except  within  the  lines  of  a  fixed  routine ;  and  in  the  moral 
government  of  the  human  race  He  is  without  freedom  of 
volition  apart  from  those  laws  which  keep  in  harmonious 
movement  the  everlasting  machinery  of  the  universe. 

The  enthusiasm  with  which  researches  have  been  prosecuted 
in  physical  science,  has  predisposed  some  to  originate,  and 
many  to  accept  theories,  of  which  nothing  v/ould  have  been 
ever  heard  if  there  had  been  similar  earnestness  in  the 
counterpoise  study  of  metaphysics.  Opposite  tendencies 
would  have  been  balanced,  and  in  the  peaceful  walks  of 
science  and  philosophy  we  should  not  have  been  meeting 
bigotry  and  intolerance  as  narrow,  sharp,  and  unrelenting, 
as  have  ever  confronted  the  student  of  purely  theological 
controversies.  The  conclusions  which  have  found  in  Britain 
a  large  measure  of  sympathy,  if  not  avowed  acceptance, 
may  be  best  estimated  through  the  language  of  their 
advocates.  A  few  statements  may  be  sufficiently  historical 
and  expository  not  only  to  induce  a  careful  examination  of 
the  tendency  of  British  scepticism,  but  to  show  tlie  probable 
effect  of  those  concessions  which  some  of  our  ablest  Chris" 
tian  apologists  are  makijig  in  the  struggle  to  counteract  its 
progress. 

As  the  -late  Rev.  Baden  Powell,  Savilian  Professor  of 
Geometry  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  was  among  the  first 
to  utter,  with  fearless  emphasis,  what  others  were  holding 


CHAP.  XV.J  BLE.XDING   LIGHTS.  323 


"  with  bated  breath,"  and  as  he  expounded  to  the  youth  of 
one  of  the  first  universities  in  the  civihsed  world,  convictions 
wliich  Avere  warmly  welcomed,  we  at  the  outset  submit  his 
conclusion : — 

"  It  is  the  province  of  science  to  investigate  nature ;  it 
can  contemplate  nothing  but  in  connection  with  the  order 
of  nature  ;  it  cannot  point  to  anything  out  of  nature.  The 
limits  of  the  study  of  nature  do  not  bring  us  to  the  confines 
of  the  supernatural."^  From  the  very  condition  of  the 
case,  it  is  evident  that  the  supernatural  can  never  be  a 
matter  of  science  or  knoivledge;  for  the  moment  it  is  brought 
within  the  cognisance  of  reason,  it  ceases  to  be  supernatural. 
If  nature  could  really  terminate  anywhere,  then  we  should 
not  find  the  supernatural,  but  a  chaos,  a  blank,  —  total 
darkness, — anarchy, — Atheism."-  "The  supernatural  is 
the  offspring  of  ignorance,  and  the  parent  of  superstition 
and  idolatry ;  the  natural  is  the  assurance  of  science,  and 
the  preliminary  to  all  rational  views  of  Theism."  ^ 

Without  carrying  his  reasoning  so  far  as  to  exclude  the 
supernatural  as  altogether  unreal  or  unimaginable,  he 
insisted  that  a  "  theism  of  omnipotence,  in  any  sense  deviating 
from  the  order  of  nature,  must  be  entirely  derived  from  other 
teaching,"  that  is,  from  the  Bible.  While  asserting  that 
"  creation, '  and  the  ideas  we  attach  to  it,  are  derived  from 
the  Scriptures,  and  demanding  that  they  be  not  confounded 
with  those  ideas  which  are  of  purely  scientific  origin,  he 
admitted  their  value,  but  traced  them  to  faith.  The  school 
to  which  he  belonged  has  moved  considerably  in  advance 
of  his  opinions.  Herbert  Spencer,  who  may  be  regarded 
as  among  the  foremost  expositors  of  its  present  beliefs^ 
rejects,  as  utterly  "unthinkable"  and  "unknowable,"  that 

'  "The  Order  of  Nature,"  p.  231.    "  Ibid.  p.  232.    ^  Ibid,  p.  248. 


324  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XV. 


which  Baden  Powell,  notwthstanding  the  fervour  of  his  love 
for  physical  science,  held  fast  as  coming  from  another  source. 
The  supernatural  in  its  highest  relations,  Spencer  displaces 
and  disowns  as  "  unscrutable,"  and  in  reference  to  the  forms 
of  religion,  he  declares  "  that  no  hypothesis  is  even  think- 
able." 1 

The  Deity  is  virtually,  though  not  formally,  excluded ;  and 
the  supernatural,  in  both  its  relative  and  absolute  aspects,  is 
consequently  repudiated.  What  is  unknowable  or  unthink- 
able is  equal  to  nothing,  and  the  whole  system  must  be  ever 
destitute  of  emotional  fervour  and  moral  value.  There  is 
nothing  in  it  to  engage  our  sympathies,  sustain  our  hopes 
stimulate  our  services,  and  develop  brotherly  kindness. 

But  the  principles  of  this  school  demand  logically  a  much 
wider  application  than  British  thinkers  generally  are  dis- 
posed to  make.  There  is  evidently  no  resting-place  short 
of  that  which  French  writers  have  taken  and  defended ;  but 
the  former  shrink  from  it  as  a  course  whose  inevitable  issue  is 
Materialism.  The  boldness  of  continental  reasoning  sheds 
light  on  the  end  to  which  its  logic  is  guiding  the  disciples 
of  that  school ;  and  its  conclusion  must  be  repudiated  or 
accepted. 

"  If  we  do  not  enter  on  this  discussion,"  says  M.  Havet, 
"  it  is  from  the  impossibility  of  doing  so  without  admitting 
an  inadmissible  proi)osition,  namely, — the  mere  possibitHy  of 
the  supernatural.  Our  principle  is  to  hold  ourselves  constantly 
from  the  supernatural, — that  is,  from  the  imagination.  The 
dominant  principle  of  all  true  history,  as  of  all  true  science,  is, 
that  that  which  is  not  in  nature  is  nothing,  unless  as  an  idea."  - 

"  Positive  philosophy,"  writes  M.  Littr^,  "  sets  aside  the 
systems  of  theology  which  suppose  supernatural  action." 

*  "First  Principles,"  p,  46.       - Rii'uc  dcs  Deux  MonJcs,  August,  18C3. 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  325 

M.  Renan  has  said  with  equal  boldness  : — "  For  myself,  I 
believe  that  there  is  not  in  the  universe  an  intelligence 
superior  to  that  of  man ;  the  absolute  of  justice  and  reason 
manifests  itself  only  in  humanity;  regarded  apart  from 
humanity,  that  absolute  is  but  an  abstraction.  The  infinite 
exists  only  when  it  clothes  itself  in  fonn."  ^ 

These  principles  have  been  warmly  welcomed  and  vindi- 
cated by  some  of  our  more  eminent  physicists  and  meta- 
physicians who,  although  prosecuting  different  studies,  and 
adopting  in  some  instances  contradictory  principles,  have 
shown  in  their  conclusions  remarkable  similarity.  At  a 
recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Edinburgh,  the 
dogma,  "  Nature  is  God,"  found  a  \villing  advocate ;  and  even 
where  the  avowal  of  the  speculatist  has  not  been  direct,  his 
statements  have  been  sufficiently  expository  of  the  ideas  that 
Law  is  supreme,  and  that  it  is  fully  adequate  to  the  produc- 
tion of  all  that  we  can  discover.  The  writings  of  Darwin, 
and  the  "  General  Conclusions  "  of  Owen,  on  the  side  of 
natural  science ;  the  writings  of  Mill,  Herbert  Spencer,  and 
others,  on  the  side  of  metaphysics  and  ethics,  at  least  in 
their  relation  to  natural  theology ;  and  those  of  Sir  John 
Lubbock  and  Mr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  uniting  the  physical  and  the 
metaphysical  with  the  social  and  moral,  give  the  mournful 
impression,  notwithstanding  the  surpassing  interest  of  their 
reasonings  and  their  records,  that  they  are,  unintentionally 
it  may  be,  yet  ruthlessly,  severing  the  connection  of  the 
human  spirit  with  its  God,  and  sending  it  forth  a  cheerless 
and  bewildered  wanderer  amid  cold  and  inexorable  laws, 
with  nothing  in  the  future  which  hope  can  irradiate,  and 
with  no  Being  to  whom  now,  or  hereafter,  the  heart  can 
permanently  cling. 

^Quoted  in  Pressense's  "Jesus  Christ:  his  Life  and  Times,"  pp.  lo,  u. 


326  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  xv. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  it  is  true,  as  has  been  already  noticed, 
p.  1 88,  does  pay  a  kind  of  general  homage  to  religion  when 
he  says,  that  it  appeals  so  strongly  to  our  hopes  and  fears, 
and  is  so  great  a  consolation  in  times  of  sorrow  and  sickness, 
that  he  can  hardly  think  any  nation  would  ever  abandon  it 
altogether :  but  of  what  value  it  can  be  in  the  midst  of  such 
natural  processes  as  he  describes,  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture. 
He  too  heavily  taxes  our  credulity  when  he  asks  us  to 
believe  that  religion  has  its  beginning  in  dreams,  and  that 
marriage  and  all  other  social  relations  have  been  slowly 
evolved  through  the  history  of  savage  and  semi-savage  tribes 
Avithout  any  reference  to  revelation.  His  admissions,  how- 
ever, involve  two  facts, — the  one,  the  existence  of  a  future 
state;  the  other,  the  influence  of  a  supernatural  Being,  to 
whose  service  religion  alone  can  bind  us ;  without  both 
of  which,  indeed,  religion  is  valueless,  if  not  impossible. 
When  religion  is  acknowledged,  the  attempt  to  escape  from 
the  supernatural  is  vain.  Mill  has  seen  this  difficulty  ;  and, 
to  meet  it,  has  assumed  the  possibility  of  religion  ^oithoiit  a 
Deity.  "  Though  conscious,"  he  says,  "  of  being  an  ex- 
tremely small  minority,  we  venture  to  think  that  a  religion 
may  exist  mthout  belief  in  God,  and  that  a  religion  without  a 
God  may  be,  even  to  Christians,  an  instructive  and  profitable 
object  of  contemplation."  ^ 

Christians,  of  course,  may  profitably  study  religious  systems 
or  beliefs  which  are  without  revelation  for  their  basis,  and 
"without  a  God''  as  their  object  to  adore  and  obey  ;  but 
there  is  not  a  trace  of  reliable  evidence  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence of  a  religion  with  nothing  higher  than  the  natural  for 
its  basis.  With  the  natural  only  as  the  source  of  successive 
evolutions,  there  can  be  no  unseen  s])herc  into  which  to 


^  "Comte  and  Positivism,"  p.  133. 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  327 

gaze,  nor  higher  and  spiritual  Being  with  whom  man  may 
hold  elevating  intercourse.  He  is  utterly  isolated  and 
unaided.  This  boldly  unphilosophical  banishment  of  the 
supernatural  from  the  domain  of  both  Reason  and  Faith,  and 
the  melancholy  attempt,  at  the  same  time,  to  retain  a  place 
for  religion  and  its  consolations,  very  clearly  show  the 
insecurity  and  incompleteness  of  that  philosophy  by  which 
these  guides  arc  themselves  influenced,  and  by  which,  as 
with  a  rod  of  iron,  they  strive  to  rule  others.  The  severity 
Avith  which  they  denounce  every  one  who  refuses  to  unite 
with  them  in  rejecting  the  supernatural  even  as  an  idea^  or 
as  an  element  of  tentative  reasoning,  is  absurdly  inconsistent 
with  that  freedom  of  inquiry  which  they  so  eloquently  claim 
for  themselves ;  but  it  is  not  without  its  gain  to  their  side, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  leading  some  earnest  Christian  apologists 
to  make  concessions  regarding  Scripture  principles  which 
have  no  warrant  whatever  from  physical  science.  It  has 
become  fashionable  to  acknowledge  the  reign  of  Law  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  reduce  the  Bible  to  the  level  of  a  somewhat 
confused  and  unreliable  history,  and  to  accept  inferences 
which  are  telling  disastrously  on  multitudes  of  our  young 
men  who  have  little  leisure  for  study.  While  there  has  been 
too  much  assertion  on  the  one  side,  there  has  been  too  much 
concession  on  the  other.  We  propose,  therefore,  in  the 
midst  of  this  confusion,  to  mark  some  positions  which 
Christian  apologists  may  occupy  with  safety,  in  the  humble 
hope  that,  while  some  may  be  dissatisfied  uith  our  sugges- 
tions, others  may  be  aided  by  them. 

On  examining  the  writings  of  those  Christian  apologists 
who  have  of  late  been  discussing  the  relations  of  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural,  we  have  been  perplexed  by  conflicting 
inferences.  As  they  reason  from  widely  different  principles, 
they  render  it  difficult  to  determine  where  the  natural  ends 


528  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  X  V 

and  the  supernatural  begins ;  or,  when  it  has  begun,  how 
much  each  embraces.  The  term  supcniatural  and  super- 
human, while  suitably  expressing  incidental  distinctions, 
have  contributed  nothing  to  what  is  essential  and  permanent. 
The  natural  has  been  variously  represented:  (i)  It  is  that 
part  of  the  material  universe  which  is  related  to  man,  but 
not  including  him ;  (2)  it  is  the  visible  universe,  including 
man ;  and  (3)  it  is  the  visible  universe,  including  not  only 
man,  but  also  some  all-pervading,  undefined,  m)'sterious 
power. 

Principal  M'Cosh,  who  has  rendered  the  highest  services 
to  philosophy  in  its  Christian  aspects,  has  not  shown  his 
wonted  breadth  and  clearness  in  discussing  the  supernatural 
in  relation  to  the  natural.  After  a  careful  perusal  of  his 
work,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  say,  with  any  satisfactory 
degree  of  exactness,  what  are  their  boundary  lines,  or  how 
much  the  one  includes,  and  how  much  the  other.  The 
impression  at  one  time  is,  that  nature  includes  only  the 
earth  and  the  system  of  which  it  is  a  part ;  at  another,  that 
it  also  includes  man ;  at  another,  that  "  in  nature  there  is  a 
Special  Providence." 

The  subject  is  much  complicated  by  his  introducing  this 
last  idea,  as  it  is  itself  connected  with  the  supernatural. 
Special  Providence  is,  logically,  suggestive  of  the  supernatural 
rather  than  of  the  natural.  The  confusion  is  increased  by 
the  proposition,  that  "  in  nature  there  is  a  moral  govern- 
ment," and  also  by  the  proofs  and  illustrations  which 
Principal  M'Cosh  gives,  to  the  effect  that  "  God  encourages 
the  morally  good,"  and  "  will  in  the  end  punish  oftenders." 
To  describe  "  special  providence  "  and  "  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  God  "  as  "  in  the  natural,"  and  as  part  of  it,  is  not 
only  in  itself  incongruous,  but  it  renders  anything  like  a 
philosophical  solution  of  this  problem  much  more  difficult, 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLEXDING   LIGHTS.  329 

if  not  hopelessly  intricate;  for  while  special  providence  works 
through  natural  laws,  it  presupposes  an  intelligent  over- 
ruling power. 

Similar  difficulties  are  created  by  his  general  remarks  on 
the  supernatural. 

"We  have  seen,"  he  says,  "that  in  this  world  there  is  a 
set  of  objects  and  agencies  which  constitute  a  system  or 
cosmos,  which  may  have  relations  to  regions  beyond,  but 
is,  all  the  while,  a  self-contained  sphere,  with  a  space  around 
it — an  island  separated  so  far  from  other  lands.  This 
system  we  call  'natural.'  The  beings  above  this  sphere  and 
the  agents  beyond  it,  though,  it  may  be,  acting  on  it,  we  call 
'  supernatural.'  God,  who  created  the  cosmical  agencies, 
and  set  them  in  operation,  is  Himself  supernatural." 

But  subsequently  he  so  associates  others  with  God,  as 
supernatural,  that  when  any  event  which  would  be  deemed 
supernatural  occurs,  it  is  beyond  our  power  to  say  which  of 
tliese  supernatural  beings  has  been  its  source,  or  whether 
God  Himself  has  directly  caused  it,  either  through  higher 
laws  brought  specially  into  action,  or  by  His  own  will. 

We  are  left  in  the  dark  as  to  how  far  angels  may  of 
themselves  produce  supernatural  occurrences,  and  as  to  how 
many  other  beings  may  have  the  power  of  modifying 
the  Reign  of  Law,  and  influencing  human  history.  The 
application  of  the  term  supernatural,  like  that  of  the  term 
natural,  is  so  often  shifted  and  so  variously  modified,  that 
we  can  make  little  progress  as  to  what  is  within  the  reign  of 
Law,  and  as  to  what  is  beyond  it.  The  obscurity  is  not 
lessened  when  he  \vrites  of  the  "  supernatural  coming  into 
the  lower  sphere  and  acting  in  unison  with  the  agencies 
already  there."  What  supernatural  is  it?  God,  or  other 
beings  separate  from  Him?  Again,  "the  natural  does 
appear  operating  and  co-operating  with  the  supernatural  in 


330  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XV. 


not  a  few  of  the  dispensations  of  God."  This  distinction 
between  the  supernatural  and  the  dispensations  of  God,  it  is 
not  easy  to  apprehend.  A\' e  question  its  reahty ;  or,  admitting 
its  reality,  whether  it  is  of  the  least  practical  value  in  this 
discussion,  either  with  those  who  look  exclusi\ely  to  the 
reign  of  Law  as  the  explanation  of  all  anomalies,  or  uith 
those  who  advocate  the  direct  reign  of  God. 

Dr.  Bushnell,  in  his  elaborate  and  eloquent  work,  "  Nature 
and  the  Supernatural,"  defines  nature  to  be  "  that  created 
realm  of  being  or  substance  which  has  an  acting,  a  going  on, 
a  process  from  within  itself,  under  and  by  its  own  laws." 
Limiting  it  to  the  physical  universe,  he  describes  it  as  "a  chain 
of  causes  and  effects,  or  a  scheme  of  orderly  succession  deter- 
mined from  within  the  scheme  itself"  "That  is  super- 
natural," he  says,  "  whatever  it  be,  that  is  either  not  in  the 
chain  of  cause  and  effect,  or  which  acts  on  the  chain  of 
cause  and  effect  in  nature  from  without  the  chain."  By 
this  definition  man  is  placed  beyond  this  chain  ;  he  acts  on 
it,  he  interferes  with  its  adjustments,  and  is  therefore  to  be 
regarded  as  supernatural.  While  this  is  so  far  true,  it  is 
defective,  as  representing  only  a  part  of  the  system  of  the 
universe.  He  presses  vigorously  the  view  that  man  has 
"properly  a  supernatural  power,"  that  he  stands  "out  clear 
and  sovereign  as  a  being  supernatural,"  and  that  he  is  able 
so  to  act  from  without  "  on  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect, 
as  to  produce  results  which  the  laws  of  nature  would  never 
have  produced  but  for  his  interference."  "  The  very  idea 
of  our  personality  is  that  of  a  being  not  under  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect,  a  being  supernatural.  Man  is  an  original 
power,  acting  not  in  the  line  of  causality,  but  from  himself." 
In  these  statements  a  principle  is  assumed,  which,  in  liis 
use  of  it,  must  be  much  restricted ;  for  man  is,  in  his  own 
sphere,  in  a  special  sense,  constantly  under  the  law  of  cause 


CHAP.  XV.]*  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  33 1 

and  effect;  and  is,  besides,  subject  to  higher  laws  than  are 
those  economies  beneath  him  which  he  subordinates  to  his 
purposes. 

"  The  supernatural,"  he  adds,  "  is  that  range  of  sub- 
stance, if  any  such  there  be,  that  acts  upon  the  chain  of 
cause  and  effect  in  nature  from  without  the  chain,  pro- 
ducing thus  results  that,  by  mere  nature,  could  not  come 
to  pass."  1 

This  somewhat  indefinite  '' if  any  such  there  be"  is  too 
flickering  a  light  to  aid  us  reliably  in  traversing  this  intricate 
subject.  "  A  range  of  substance,  if  such  there  be,"  is 
expected  to  produce  what  cannot  possibly  be  accounted  for 
apart  from  inteUigence  and  purpose.  Without  that  purpose, 
substance  left  to  itself  could  never  so  act  on  substance  as  to 
educe  extraordinary  effects,  and  invest  them  with  permanent 
meaning.  Let  effects  break  out  at  any  time  in  such  a  form 
as  to  be  obviously  independent  of  ordinary  laws,  and  be  at 
the  same  time  morally  influential  through  their  connection 
with  human  history,  and  they  will  remain  inexplicable, 
except  in  relation  to  the  regulating  will  of  God.  If  we  are 
to  comprehend  aright  the  moral  government  under  which 
our  responsibility  is  increasing  as  our  knowledge  of  nature 
extends,  we  must  go  further  than  to  hidden  laws  and  superior 
agents  behind  the  knoA\Ti;  we  must  rise  directly  to  His  hand 
in  whom  all  move  and  have  their  being. 

In  his  "Reign  of  Law,"  the  Duke  of  Argyll  has,  with  great 
fairness,  tested  the  definitions  and  dehneations  which  Prin- 
cipal M'Cosh  and  Dr.  Bushnell  have  contributed,  and  has 
himself  presented  valuable  suggestions,  yet  he  leaves  the 
subject  in  somewhat  perplexing  ambiguity.  While  we  accept 
his  assertion  that  "  the  reign  of  law  is,  indeed,  so  far  as  we 

1  [Page  23.] 


332  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  '  [cHAP.  XV. 


can  observe  it,  universal,"  and  that  "  nature,  in  the  largest 
sense,  includes  all  that  is 

'  In  the  round  ocean,  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  iu  the  mind  of  tiian,' " ' 

we  refuse  to  admit  that  Law,  in  being  uni\ersal,  is  absolute 
and  exclusive,  and  that  God  acts  only  in  and  through  its 
agency.  Nor  is  his  view  of  the  supernatural  so  distinctly 
unfolded  as  is  necessary.  His  definitions  are  not  free  from 
the  obscurity  of  which  he  justly  complains  in  others,  and  he 
appears  to  restrict  the  "doings"  of  the  supernatural  more  than 
the  principles  of  Christianity  can  fairly  admit.  He  touches 
the  right  spring,  we  believe,  when  he  says,  "  By  super- 
natural power,  do  we  not  mean  power  independent  of  the 
use  of  means,  as  distinguished  from  power  depending  on 
knowledge — even  infinite  knowledge — of  the  means  proper 
to  be  employed  ?  "  This  power,  independent  of  the  use  of 
means,  is  essential  to  the  idea  of  creation.  Its  origin  is  the 
mil  of  God.  He  gave  existence  to  means,  and  then  used 
them  for  His  manifold  purposes.  The  real  difficulty — that 
which  many  say  is  inconceivable — lies,  as  his  Grace  states, 
"in  the  idea  of  will  exercised  Avith  out  the  use  of  means — not 
in  the  idea  of  will  exercised  through  means  which  are  be- 
yond our  knowledge  or  beyond  our  reach."  But  we  are 
perplexed  by  the  concession  which  he  makes  in  the  very 
next  sentence, — "  Now,  have  we  any  right  to  say  that  belief 
in  this  is  essential  to  all  religion  ?  If  we  have  not,  then  it 
is  only  putting,  as  so  many  other  sayings  do  put,  additional 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  religion."  Belief  in  t/iis,  that  is,  in 
Gods  will,  exercised  without  means,  is  conceivable,  and 
though  not  essential  to  all  religions,  it  is  essential  to  Christi- 
anity.    His  Grace  assumes  that  the  Creator  did  first  give 

^  "  Reign  of  Law,"  pp.  4,  II, 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  333 


existence  to  the  means,  and  then  did,  and  now  does,  use 
them  for  the  accomplishment  of  ends.  Will,  then,  must  have 
been  exercised  without  the  use  of  means.  "  But  the  very 
idea  of  a  Creator  involves  the  idea,  not  merely  of  a  Being 
by  whom  the  properties  of  matter  are  employed,  but  of  a 
Being  from  whose  Will  the  properties  of  matter  are  derived." 
Surely  belief  in  that  is  essential  to  Christianity.  To  refuse 
this  is  not  only  to  put  additional  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
religion,  but  to  bar  altogether  the  acceptance  of  Revelation 
and  the  Gospel.  He  says  truly,  "  But  those  who  beUeve 
that  God's  Will  does  govern  the  world,  must  believe  that, 
ordinarily  at  least,  He  does  govern  it  by  the  choice  and  use 
of  means,  which  means  were  again  pre-established  by  Him- 
self" On  this  there  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion ;  God 
does  govern  ordinarily  by  the  use  of  means  ;  there  is  a  reign 
of  Law,  yet  not  a  blind  despotism  of  Force.  But  in  the 
next  sentence  his  Grace  requires  a  concession  which  we  can- 
not possibly  make,  when  he  says,  "  Nor  have  we  any  certain 
reason  to  believe  that  He  ever  acts  otherwise."  He  has 
acted  otherwise  in  creation,  and  what  has  been  may  be 
again.  We  should  be  sorry  to  misinterpret  the  views  of  one 
whose  contributions  we,  in  many  respects,  greatly  value  and 
admire,  but  we  do  think  that  he  makes  concessions  which 
neutralise  much  of  his  best  reasoning.  If  he  fails  anywhere, 
it  is  in  discussing  these  fundamental  principles.  In  a  foot- 
note in  the  Fifth  Edition  of  his  "  Reign  of  Law,"  he  accepts 
as  satisfactory  Mr.  Lecky's  reference  to  his  views,  as  convey- 
ing "  a  notion  of  a  miracle  which  would  not  differ  gcnerically 
from  a  human  act,  though  it  would  still  be  strictly  available 
for  evidential  "^wx^iO^fa  •"  but  in  accepting  this  restricted  use 
of  a  miracle,  he  enunciates  a  principle  which  must  hamper 
and  enfeeble  all  his  reasoning,  not  only  as  to  the  supernatural, 
but  as  to  Christianity  itself     "  Beyond  the  immediate  pur- 


334  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  XV. 

purposes  of  benevolence,"  he  says,  "  which  were  served  by 
almost  all  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament,  the  only  other 
purpose  which  is  ever  assigned  to  them  is  an  '  evidential 
purpose,' — that  is,  a  purpose  that  they  might  serve  as  signs  of 
the  presence  of  superhuman  knowledge,  and  of  the  working 
of  superhuman  power.  They  were  performed,  in  short,  to 
assist  faith,  and  not  to  confound  reason." 

It  is  strange  to  find  one  so  acute  in  discriminating  prin- 
ciples, and  so  comprehensive  in  reasoning,  restricting  the 
miracles  of  the  New  Testament  to  merely  evidential  pur- 
poses ;  they  serve  that  end,  it  is  true,  but  in  their  profound- 
est  connections  they  are  more  than  evidential,  they  are 
eminently  doctrinal.  "The  facts  of  Christianity,"  says 
Archdeacon  Lee,  "  are  represented  by  some  as  forming  no 
part  of  its  essential  doctrines ;  they  rank,  it  is  argued,  no  . 
higher  than  its  external  accessories.  It  is  impossible  to  main- 
tain this  distinction."  And  Professor  Bannerman,  in  his 
work  on  Inspi?-ation,  also  refuses  to  separate  the  miracles 
from  the  dogmatic  teaching  of  Scripture ;  for  they  are,  as  he 
believes,  to  a  large  extent  identical :  "  In  many  cases,"  he 
adds,  "  the  miracles  are  nothing  but  doctrines  rendered  into 
facts,  and  the  doctrines  only  miracles  interpreted  into  truths." 

I.  The  Relations  of  the  Supernatural  to  the 
Natural. 

In  determining  the  mutual  relations  of  the  supernatural 
and  the  natural,  we  must  extend  the  sphere  of  the  natural 
beyond  that  to  which  it  has  been  limited,  and  endeavour  to 
simplify  the  ideas  prevalent  as  to  miraculous  agency.  With 
much  diffidence  we  follow  the  distinguished  writers  to  whom 
reference  has  been  so  freely  made ;  but  the  difficulties  which 
remain  are  such,  that,  notwithstanding  all  their  concessions, 
and  in  large  measure  because  of  them,  the  whole  subject 
needs   reconsideration.      Eager   and    ingenuous   inquirers, 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  335 


especially  among  young  men,  pausing  at  almost  every  step, 
have  found  apparent  contradictions  in  some  of  their  definite 
propositions,  and  they  are  refusing  to  accept  statements 
which  have  left  vitally  important  questions  m  even  greater 
obscurity  than  before.  We  enter  on  this  part  of  the  discus- 
sion cherishing  the  hope  that,  if  we  fail  to  satisfy  the  philo- 
sophic inquirer  on  the  side  of  Christianity,  others  more  com- 
petent may  undertake  the  task  of  exposition  when  they 
observe  what  questions  continue  to  tax  the  reason  and  the 
faith  of  many  thoughtful  students. 
/     The  Natural:   Its  Extent. 

Nature  not  only  includes  all  that  is  in  the  physical  uni- 
verse, at  least  in  so  far  as  it  influences  man,  or  may  be 
known  by  him,  but  is  expressive,  in  the  widest  sense,  of  all 
that  is,  as  having  come  forth  to  be  by  the  will  of  the  Creator. 
Creation  and  the  ''natural"  are  synonymous  or  co-equal,  as 
now  existent.  Their  origin  is  supernatural.  There  is 
nothing  in  nature  to  show  self-origination.  It  could  not  of 
its  own  accord  begin  to  be.  All  that  is  now  natural  was,  tn 
the  beginning,  the  result  of  divine  power.  The  will  of  God 
omnipotent,  sovereign,  and  inscrutable,  is  its  source  and 

stay.  , 

Some,  restricting  nature  to  what  is  material,  cannot  escape 
from  the  trammels  of  a  purely  physical  philosophy ;  while 
others,  fixing  exclusive  regard  on  psychological  truth,  as  hav- 
ing' a  reahty  and  a  certainty  of  at  least  as  much  consequence 
as  "  the  laws  of  the  planetary  motions  and  chemical  affini- 
ties "  hasten  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  demand  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  facts  of  their  science  as  the  only  worthy 
foundation  of  philosophy  and  natural  theology.  Both  err. 
In  excluding  either  the  one  or  the  other,  they  act  unnatur- 
ally •  they  divide  what  God  has  joined  in  man,— a  body  con- 
necting him  with  the  physical,  and  a  soul  connecting  him 


336  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [chap.  XV. 

with  the  spiritual.  The  fact  of  a  spiritual  nature  in  man  is 
presumptive  evidence  of  a  spiritual  universe  around  him  of 
which  he  is  part,  and  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  may 
be  alike  Tiatural.  Philosophy  and  natural  theology  must  re- 
cognise both,  because  they  really  rest  on  both  mental  and 
material  principles,  psychology  as  well  as  physics.  This 
view  is  so  far  held  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll  when  he  "  takes 
the  natural  in  that  large  and  \\'ider  sense  in  which  it  contains 
^vithin  it  the  whole  phenomena  of  man's  intellectual  and 
spiritual  nature  as  part,  and  the  most  familiar  of  all  parts,  of 
the  visible  system  of  things."  That  is  the  limit  which  he 
reaches,  but  we  go  farther,  for  ethics  cannot  be  excluded. 
The  distinction  to  which  Lord  Brougham  attempted  to  give 
permanent  prominence  between  Ontology,  or  the  science  of 
What  is,  and  Deontology,  or  the  science  of  W/iat  ought  to 
be,  cannot  be  rigidly  maintained  here.  The  two  sciences 
intermingle.  The  what  is,  for  instance,  in  our  physical  con- 
dition, teaches  what  ought  to  be  in  regard  to  health,  and  has 
not  only  sanitary,  but  moral,  obligations.  Besides,  conscience 
is  part  of  what  is,  its  existence  is  universally  acknowledged ; 
as  a  fact  it  has  its  place  in  ontology',  but  in  function  and  in- 
fluence it  passes  into  the  domain  of  deontology,  or  7c>hat 
ought  to  be.  It  regulates  conduct,  it  invests  with  responsi- 
bility, it  is  a  determining  power,  not  only  in  individual  life, 
but  in  national  history ;  it  i^  the  basis  of  religion,  and  pre- 
pares man  for  Revelation. 

Nor  can  we  rest  here.  Philosophically,  the  natural  must 
also  embrace  those  higher  rational  or  spiritual  beings  who 
have  been  created,  and  who  in  the  divine  government  are 
related  to  Man.  Analogy  in  the  visible,  guiding  us  from 
lower  to  higher  forms  of  life,  and  from  the  higher  to  the 
highest,  Man,  warrants  our  moving  upwards  through  a  still 
higher  series  in  the  invisible.     Analogy  forbids  the  arrest  of 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  337 

our  course  when  we  are  passing  from  the  intellectual  in  man 
to  the  confines  of  the  spiritual  in  the  Unseen  ;  and  we  can- 
not stop  on  this  threshold  without  doing  violence  to  the  first 
principles  of  scientific  investigation.  What  analogy  has  in- 
dicated, the  Scriptures  directly  attest.  This  statement  may,  of 
course,  be  ridiculed  by  the  physicist,  but  the  philosopher 
who  has  any  confidence  in  the  lessons  of  analogy  will  admit 
the  probability  of  other  and  higher  existences ;  and  to  the 
Christian  who  has  faith  in  the  Bible  it  is  matter  of  certainty. 
"  For  by  Him,"  the  Son  of  God,  "were  all  things  created 
that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible, 
whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or 
powers."  ^  The  idea  of  an  ascending  series  of  rational  and 
moral  beings  is  familiar  to  every  student  of  the  Bible.  And 
is  it  not  illogical  on  the  part  of  the  mere  physicist  to  be 
making  perpetual  reference  to  "  higher  laws  "  and  "  hidden 
laws,"  and  to  "  subtle  or  mysterious  forces  yet  unknown," 
on  his  own  side  of  the  question,  while  he  denounces  as 
"mere  imagination"  or  "superstition"  all  references  on 
the  other  side  to  those  higher,  hidden,  and  mysterious  beings 
to  whom  analogy  directs  us,  and  whom  the  Bible  describes 
as  "  ministering  spirits,"  as  "  heavenly  hosts  "  ?  Is  it  not 
really  more  unphilosophical  to  deny  than  to  admit  the  exist- 
ence of  "higher  spiritual  beings  than  man"?  Is  it  not 
more  one-sided  and  less  harmonious  with  our  convictions  to 
impose  such  a  limit?  As  man  is  connected  with  all  life 
below  him,  is  he  not  also  connected  Avith  all  life  and  intelli 
gence  above  him  ? 

Such  an  extending  of  the  sphere  of  the  natural,  renders 
easier  of  solution,  we  think,  some  of  the  more  pressing  pro- 
blems as~to  the  relations  of  Law  to  the  supernatural. 

^  Colossians  i._i6, 
Y 


338  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XV. 

2.   The  Supernatural. 

What  is  the  supernatural  ?  Where  does  it  begin  ?  What 
sphere  does  it  fill  ?  How  give  it  a  definite  character  ? 
What  is  the  source  of  its  power  ? 

The  supernatural,  we  believe,  can  ha\e  no  moral  value  to 
man  except  in  its  direct  connection  with  the  Will  of  God. 
Apart,  indeed,  from  such  connection,  the  supernatural, 
about  which  so  much  has  of  late  been  written,  is  nothing 
more  than  the  natural ;  and  although  the  distinction  may 
be  serviceable,  it  can  relieve  the  mind  of  no  anxiety ;  it 
explains  nothing.  What  we  understand  and  what  we 
cannot  fully  comprehend,  may  be  thus  separated  by  appro- 
priate terms,  but  both  are  natural,  as  dejiendent  on  the 
creational  and  the  governing  power  of  God.  We  acknow- 
ledge the  reign  of  Law  everywhere  as  fully  as  any  one  can 
describe  it;  we  admit  its  prevalence  above,  around,  beneath; 
but  we  deny  its  absoluteness.  It  has  vast  sway,  but  still  it 
is  a  subject.  When  such  occurrences  have  to  be  explained, 
as  iron  swimming,  when  naturally  it  should  sink,  the  mere 
reference  to  supernatural  agencies  or  hidden  laws  explains 
nothing,  it  leaves  us  gazing  in  very  helplessness  into  the 
dark.  Be  it  that  there  is  some  hidden  law  which  produced 
that  effect,  how  came  it  to  work  at  that  juncture,  and  at  no 
other?  Can  any  certain  footing  be  gained  until  we  refer  the 
process  and  the  result  to  the  sovereign  Will  of  the  great 
Ruler  ;  or  can  any  adequate  solution  of  the  supernatural  be 
found  but  in  His  wisdom  and  power  ? 

While  we  gladly  acknowledge  the  aid  which  the  Scriptures 
bring,  it  is  only  in  the  way  of  confirming  a  conclusion  other>vise 
reached.  To  this  course  objections  have  been  raised  ;  it  is 
not  fair,  they  allege,  to  begin  the  study  of  natural  theology 
with  the  Bible  in  our  hand,  or  to  employ  its  light  in  specula- 
tions as  to  supernatural  agencies ;  but  this  objection  has 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  339 

been  fully  disposed  of,  we  think,  by  the  late  Archbishop 
Whately  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Baden  Powell : — 

"It  is  enough,"  he  says,  "if  you  can  establish  it  as  a 
strong  probability  that  there  may  be  a  God,  and  that  not 
such  as  we  call  God — the  Author  of  all  things — but  simply 
an  unseen,  intelligent  Being,  exercising  power  over  the  world. 
And  when  it  is  admitted  that  there  may  be  such  a  Being, 
there  is  no  absurdity  in  proceeding  to  inquire  what  proofs 
there  are  of  His  having  directly  communicated  with  man. 
When  this  is  established,  we  may  justly  infer  from  such  His 
Revelation,  His  having  probably  done  so  and  so,  and  being 
so  and  so,  of  which  again  we  may  find  confirmation  by 
inspecting  more  closely  the  other  volume — the  Created 
Universe."  ^ 

This  appears  to  be  a  use  of  Scripture  so  perfectly  fair, 
that  we  claim  its  aid  in  the  same  way  and  to  the  same 
extent,  and  accept  its  teaching  as  confirming  the  lessons  of 
analogy. 

Those  who  insist  on  "  the  grand  truth  of  the  universal 
order  and  constancy  of  natural  causes  as  a  primary  law  of 
belief,  and  as  so  strongly  entertained  and  fixed  in  the  mind 
of  every  truly  inductive  inquirer  that  he  cannot  even  con- 
ceive the  possibility  of  its  failure,"  and  who  assert  that  any 
results  different  from  this  established  order  are  "  inconceiv- 
able to  reason,"  must  prove  two  things;  first,  that  this 
primary  law  of  belief  renders  it  impossible  to  have  intui- 
tional evidence  in  favour  of  the  supernatural ;  and  second, 
that  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  in  the  natural  to  train  or 
guide  the  mind  to  any  legitimate  conception  of  a  Being 
above  all  nature. 

In  both  they  fail,  and  in  both  the  Christian  student  finds 

1  "  Life  of  Archbishop  Whately,"  p.  148.     Edition  in  one  volume. 


340  BLEXDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XV. 

support.  ^Vhy  should  such  results  be  inconceivable  to  reason? 
No  evidence  has  ever  been  adduced  to  show  that  we  are 
intellectually  incompdctit  to  reach  or  receive  the  idea  of  a 
supernatural  Being,  or  that  the  idea  is  itself  an  outrage  on 
any  one  of  our  intuitions.  Principal  M'Cosh  has  conclu- 
sively shown  that  our  intuitions  do  not  in  the  least  sanction 
the  conclusion  that  "  nature  has  nothing  but  physical  or  mun- 
dane law;"  and  he  has  shown  that  they  are  neither  inconsistent 
with  a  miracle  nor  violated  by  its  history.  ^  Our  intuitions 
do  not  rigorously  limit  to  natural  agencies  alone  the  causes 
of  the  effects  which  we  examine,  when  they  may  possibly 
have  a  divine  origin.  The  very  evidence  which  leads  us  to 
recognise  uniformity  in  nature,  fosters,  if  it  does  not  create, 
the  conviction,  that  there  is  a  higher  power  at  work  than  the 
natural  exhibits.  The  assertion  that  "faith  in  the  super- 
natural is  the  essence  of  all  unreason,"  does  violence  to  our 
intuitions.  It  sets  aside  a  primary  law  of  belief  The  idea 
of  the  supernatural  is  not  foreign  to  man  ;  its  prevalence  is 
universal.  To  disown  it  is  unphilosophical.  The  history 
of  our  race  is  its  vindication. 

"  You  may  interrogate  the  human  race,"  says  Guizot,  "  in 
all  times  and  in  all  places,  in  all  states  of  society  and  in  all 
grades  of  civilisation,  and  you  will  fmd  tliem  cver}'Avhere, 
and  always,  believing  in  facts  and  causes  beyond  this  sensi- 
ble world  called  nature."  ^ 

Although  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  given  his  decision  against 
the  universal  prevalence  of  a  religious  sentiment,  the  general 
opinion  is  opposed  to  his  inference.  All  known  races, 
savage  and  civilised,  are  connected  by  the  idea  of  the  super- 


^  "  The   vSupcrnatuial,"  &c.,  p.    41.      See   also    "  Christianity  and 
Positivism." 

-  "  Meditations  sur  la  Religion,"  p.  95. 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  341 

natural  in  some  one  fomi  or  other,  and  by  some  religious 
customs  or  habits,  however  vague  or  contradictory. 

II.  Evidence  in  Nature  of  the  Supernatural. 

The  rigid  exclusion  of  the  very  idea  of  the  supernatural,  is 
unjustifiable.  Its  banishment  does  not  harmonise  with 
the  tendencies  and  tlie  guidance  of  nature,  for  we  are  trained 
to  the  idea  by  the  economies  which  surround  us.  Not  by 
intuition  only,  nor  by  human  history  alone,  with  its  uni- 
versal beliefs,  but  by  the  structure  of  the  earth  also,  and  by 
an  ascending  series  of  manifestations,  are  we  constrained  to 
look  to  the  supernatural.  In  the  facts  of  science  is  the  basis 
of  our  argument,  and  their  relations  may  be  briefly  described. 

I.  In  the  inorganic  fabric  of  our  globe,  there  is  indirect  yet 
impressive  evidence  of  a  power  which  has  been  at  work 
beyond  all  that  physical  tests  can  touch.  In  the  disposition 
and  distribution  of  the  materials  which  surround  us,  there  is 
abundant  evidence  of  design.  The  superposition  and  the 
arrangements  of  the  rocks  and  the  metals,  represent  through 
long  antecedent  ages  such  obvious  regard  to  the  future 
constitution  of  man,  that  Ave  cannot  connect  such  a 
wonderful  series  of  facts  with  the  blind  action  of  unintelli- 
gent Law  without  doing  violence  to  Reason.  No  law  has 
ever  been  even  remotely  indicated  which  would  determine 
the  place,  the  thickness,  and  the  very  texture  of  succeeding 
strata,  or  which  would  explain  how  the  silver,  the  gold,  the 
lime,  the  iron,  and  the  coal,  are  so  accessible  to  man,  and 
therefore  so  promotive  of  civilisation.  In  the  disposition  of 
the  constituents  of  the  oldest  rocks,  there  is  exliibited  a 
minuteness  of  care,  as  well  as  a  vastness  of  prophetic  pre- 
paration, for  which  natural  laws  have  indicated  no  explan- 
ation. How  came  all  those  inorganic  substances,  those 
indispensable  elements  without  which  plants  perish,  to  be  so 
stored  up,  and  to  be  so  related  to  future  agencies,  that  they 


342  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XV. 

give  forth  sparingly  in  their  season  those  nicely-balanced 
quantities  which  clothe  the  cartli  with  green,  enamel  it  \A\\\ 
flowers,  and  enrich  it  with  fruit?  By  what  process  of 
selection  have  the  rocks  established  \vithin  themselves  that 
delicately-varied  texture  which,  with  marvellous  precision, 
yields  to  the  sunshine,  and  the  dew,  and  the  storm,  and 
other  wasting  influences,  those  homoeopathic  supplies  which 
plants  separately  and  unconsciously  require?  Can  this 
singular  storage,  long  ages  ago,  of  food  for  future  plants, 
have  been  no  more  than  the  chance  result  of  materials  in 
chaos  striving  for  the  mastery?  No  power  in  nature  has 
been  pointed  out  as  possibly  leading  to  these  marvellous 
allocations.  They  are  commensurate  with  our  globe,  and 
they  compel  us  to  look  away  from  themselves  for  an 
explanation  of  their  order.  Our  first  step  in  physical 
inquiry  thus  brings  us  into  the  presence  of  what  is  super- 
natural, unless  we  are  contented  to  sit  shrouded  in  mysteries, 
which  may  be,  at  least  in  part,  removed. 

2.  As  we  proceed,  another  fact  presents  itself  which 
natural  law  cannot  explain.  Not  produced  in  any  form  by 
the  harmonious  preparations  above  referred  to,  but  depend- 
ing on  them,  and  so  acting  on  the  substances  provided  as  to 
turn  them  to  uses  not  within  the  range  of  inorganic  matter 
alone, — is  Plant-life.  Whence  is  it  ?  How  has  it  appeared  ? 
It  is  a  result  beyond  physical  law.  ISIark  how  it  acts.  Vital 
force  overcomes  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  while  it  uses 
chemical  combinations,  is  in  origin  independent  of  them. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes,  plant-life  is,  in  relation  to  the 
inorganic  world,  miraculous  or  supernatural.  Higher  laws 
are  framed  which  suspend  or  modify  chemical  and  mechani- 
cal forces.  All  that  chemistry  has  achieved  amid  trans- 
formations which  often  startle,  and  always  instruct  us,  has 
failed  to  organise  a  single  form  in  which  life  may  take  up 


CHAP.  XV.]  .    BLENDING   LIGHTS.  343 

its  abode.  Life  makes  its  own  form,  and  plies  its  own  force. 
Plant-life  was  a  neio  thing  in  our  world.  It  came  into  or 
upon  it,  supernaturally,  not  from  it. 

3.  By  another  step  we  are  brought  to  a  new  economy, 
that  of  Animal-life^  not  educed,  but  supervened.  Although 
animals  and  plants  are  more  closely  related  than  are  plants 
and  the  soil,  yet  they  are  essentially  distinct.  While  there 
are  intermediate  or  apparently  transitional  forms  between 
plants  and  animals,  there  is,  as  Professor  Huxley  admits,  a 
great  difference  in  these  two  divisions  of  lower  life  "  of 
which  nothing  is  at  present  known."  Science  has  not  con- 
nected them,  nor  is  it  likely  that  it  ever  will.  While  plants 
draw  their  nourishment  from  the  inorganic,  animals  cannot ; 
they  live  on  the  organic ;  they  utilise  the  materials  which 
plants  elaborate ;  they  educe  results  altogether  beyond  the 
vegetable  economy ;  and  they  modify  its  laws  to  new  ends — 
to  ends  which,  in  so  far  as  plant  power  is  involved,  are 
supernatural.  That  "life  can  come  only  from  life"  has 
been  generally  accepted  as  an  established  tmth.  We  antici- 
pate the  vindication  of  a  still  more  definite  truth, — that 
plant-life  can  come  only  from  plant-life,  and  animal-life  only 
from  animal-life.  Meantime,  the  question  of  spontaneous 
generation  has  been  so  far  settled  by  the  experiments  of 
M.  Pasteur,^  that  we  cannot  accept,  at  this  stage  of  the  dis- 
cussion, from  any  less  skilful  analyst,  mere  elaborate  theories 
as  against  his  conclusions  or  results. 

4.  Again,  and  higher,  we  have  Man  associated  in  physical 
conformation  with  the  lower  animals,  yet  possessed  of  quali- 
ties peculiar  to  himself  Between  man  and  the  lower 
animals,  near  as  they  approach  each  other  in  some  respects, 
there  is  a  chasm  which  the  utmost  ingenuity  has  failed  to 

^  See  p.  46. 


344  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XV. 

bridge  or  fill.  Neither  Geology  nor  Travels  have  produced 
facts  which  accord  with  the  reasoning  of  the  derivationists. 
On  their  theory,  man's  origin  should  be  traced  to  some 
region  where  he  is  most  debased,  and  where,  consequently, 
survival  is,  at  first,  most  precarious.  But  "  it  is  absurd,"  as 
Principal  Dawson  has  justly  observed,  "to  affirm  of  any 
species  of  animal  or  plant  that  it  must  have  originated  at  the 
limits  of  its  range,  where  it  can  scarcely  survive  at  all.'"^ 
Much  more  natural  is  it  to  suppose  that  Man's  career  did 
not  commence  at  the  extreme  verge  of  possible  existence. 
Even  in  those  regions  in  which  the  apes  nearest  man  are 
most  fully  developed,  the  conditions  of  his  existence  are  such 
as  to  render  very  improbable  the  supposition  that  man  is 
descended  from  them.  But  decidedly  positive  testimony, 
as  well  as  merely  negative  reasoning,  is  confirming  the 
Scripture  statements  as  to  man's  separate  origin.  Mr. 
Wallace  has  displaced  Mr.  Dar\nn's  conclusions  by  demon- 
strating the  "  insufficiency  of  natural  selection  "  to  account 
for  the  development  of  man's  brain,  his  soft,  naked,  and 
sensitive  skin,  the  structure  of  his  foot  and  hand,  and  the 
conformation  of  his  organs  of  speech  ;  and  it  has  been 
frankly  admitted  by  such  as  Professor  Huxley,  that  man  is 
immeasurably  separated  from  the  highest  of  the  lower 
animals  by  his  intellectual  and  moral  nature.  Man,  made 
capable  of  looking  "  to  the  Unseen  and  Eternal,"  cherishes 
the  distinctive  idea  of  immortality.  His  intellect,  with  its 
power  of  comparing ;  his  reason,  with  its  grasp  to  generalise ; 
his  imagination,  with  its  faculty  to  invent  and  combine; 
his  conscience,  with  its  recognition  of  right  and  ^\Tong ;  his 
memory,  with  its  power  of  reproducing  the  past ;  and  his 


^  See  Principal  Dawson's  admirable  work,  "The  Story  of  the  Earth 
and  Man,"  chapter  xv, 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  345 


conceptions  of  responsibility,  obligation,  virtue,  and  the 
sanctions  of  law, — connect  him  with  an  economy  which  is 
utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  lower  animals.  In  his  in- 
tellectual, moral,  and  spiritual  nature  he  is  supernatural  to 
all  beneath  and  around  him.  The  germs  of  this  highest 
moral  nature  cannot  be  found  in  either  inorganic  masses  or 
in  the  life-forms  which  abound  beneath  his  sway. 

S..And  must  we  stop  here  ?  Is  Man  the  first  and  last  of 
rational  and  responsible  beings  ?  Does  the  human  race  ex- 
haust the  range  of  intellectual  and  moral  existence  ?  Are 
there  no  higher  beings  in  wider  spheres,  and  subject  to 
other  laws  than  those  which  are  known  to  us  ?  Does  not 
the  finger  of  analogy  point  upward  And  does  not  Scrip- 
ture assure  us  that  the  inference  is  legitimate,  as  it  sheds 
light  on  higher  ranks  of  moral  beings — angel,  archangel,  and 
seraph  ? 

To  consider  the  connections  or  minuter  relations  of  the 
series  of  economies  of  which  we  form  a  part,  is  unnecessary. 
All  that  we  insist  on  is,  that  by  an  ascending  series  nature 
does  train  the  observant  to  the  idea  of  the  supernatural.  The 
idea  is  not  merely  admissible,  but  necessary,  and  its  repudia- 
tion is  unjustifiable.  Let  us  not  be  understood  as  claiming 
the  acknowledgment  of  a  frequent  interference  on  the  part 
of  the  Creator  and  Preserver  with  the  laws  which  he  has 
estabhshed.  They  fulfil  their  function  in  a  twofold  capacity: 
they  act  according  to  their  special  destiny,  and  also  in 
accordance  with  those  demands  which  are  made  on  them 
by  a  higher  and  subordinating  economy.  It  is  in  that  sense 
we  hold  the  one  economy  to  be  supernatural  to  the  other — 
plant-life  to  the  inorganic,  animal-life  to  plant-life,  and  man 
to  both.  Enough  has  been  said,  not  only  to  prove  the 
legitimacy  of  the  idea,  but  to  show  that  its  exclusion  is 
unscientific.     To  assert  that  the  supernatural  is  "  inconceiv- 


346  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  xy. 


able,"  or  is  "  the  essence  of  all  unreason,"  does  violence  to 
the  facts  of  nature  and  their  logical  interpretation. 

The  bitterness  \nth  which  the  idea  of  the  supernatural  is 
hunted  down,  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  undue 
influence  which  any  single  department  of  study,  without  its 
counterpoise,  may  exert  over  even  the  keenest  and  most 
powerful  intellect.  While  all  creation,  visible  and  invisible, 
may  be  regarded  comprehensively  as  the  natural  under  the 
control  of  God,  w^e  are  warranted  in  describing  as  a  super- 
natural result  each  higher  economy  in  the  ascending  series 
which  could  not  have  been  originated  by  that  beneath  it. 
That  power  which  controls  the  subordinate,  as  the  vital  force 
in  the  plant  controls  the  inorganic  elements  around  it,  is  in 
its  action  relatively  supernatural,  but  ///  origin  it  is  absolutely 
supernatural.  The  two  ideas  are  harmonious,  though  dis- 
tinct. The  relatively  supernatural  becomes  the  natural 
beneath  the  next  higher  economy  in  the  ascending  series. 
The  plant  economy,  supernatural  relatively  to  the  inorganic 
fabric,  becomes  natural  relatively  to  the  animal  economy ; 
and  so  on,  upward  through  all  stages  and  ranks,  until  we 
reach  the  great  source  of  order  and  life — the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigning. 

But  to  acknowledge  the  reign  of  the  Supreme  Being,  does 
not  necessarily  displace  the  reign  of  Law.  Law  has  its 
sphere.  It  is  universal ;  but  not  absolute.  This  is  not  a 
new  discovery ;  it  is  a  truth  shining  with  as  much  clearness 
in  every  page  of  Scripture  as  in  the  "  Principia"  of  Newton. 
Regarding  this  principle,  both  Science  and  Scripture  are  at 
one ;  the  difference  lies  in  the  variety  and  extent  of  its 
applications — a  difference  always  dependent  on  the  progress 
of  scientific  discovery.  But  while  we  acknowledge  the  pre- 
valence of  natural  law,  and  admit  that  hidden  laws  may  be 
applied  by  higher  beings  to  produce  what  to  us  are  super- 


CHAP.  XV.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  347 

natural  results,  we  cannot,  in  homage  to  an  imperfect 
philosophy,  dissociate  the  Lawgiver  from  the  works  and  the 
laws  which  he  has  framed. 

While  the  Divine  Government  proceeds  ordinarily  by  the 
use  of  natural  agencies,  we  are  justified  in  firmly  refusing  the 
statement  already  adverted  to,  "  that  there  is  no  reason  for 
believing  that  God  ever  acts  otherwise."  The  facts  of 
science,  as  well  as  the  intimations  of  Scripture,  reveal  actions 
without  means.  To  institute  means  originally,  is  itself  evi- 
dence of  acting  without  means.  To  establish  laws,  is  proof 
of  work  without  laws.  The  reign  of  law  is  not  self-originated. 
God  began  it,  and  his  Will  must  be  the  rule  of  its  continu- 
ance. Proof  is  accumulating.  Natural  Philosophy  has 
already  demonstrated  that  the  present  cosmical  system  has 
not  been  eternal — that  it  began  to  be, — and  that  it  is  passing 
on  to  change  and  overthrow,  unless  some  power,  not  now 
acting,  interpose.  Geology  has  proved  a  commencement  to 
our  rock  structure,  and  Biology  has  also  attested  for  Life  a 
beginning  that  is  supernatural  to  all  that  previously  existed. 
We  are  perfectly  justified  in  assuming  these  to  be  results  with- 
out self-originating  means ;  and  it  does  no  such  violence  to 
our  intuitions  and  our  reason  to  connect  them  with  the 
sovereign  Will  of  God,  as  it  does  to  throw  back  the  beginning 
of  all  things  into  the  mists  of  a  measureless  eternity,  and  to 
assert  that  explanation  is  "  inconceivable." 

Throughout  the  "  Natural,"  in  the  fullest  extent  which  may 
be  claimed  for  it,  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  6'///^matural  influence  ;  and  if  Christianity  is  indeed 
a  system  from  the  same  hand  which  fi-amed  the  heavens,  it 
would  not  be  in  harmony  with  the  facts  which  appear  in  the 
lower  economies,  if  the  manifestations  of  a  supernatural 
presence  in  it  were  not  at  least  equally  distinct. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

(Subject  Continued.) 

Evidmce  of  the  Supernatural  in  Christianity — Results  in  the 
History  of  Christianity — Conclusion. 

"The  truth  which  really  and  only  accounts  for  the  establishment  in 
this  our  human  world  of  such  a  religion  as  Christianity,  and  of  such  an 
institution  as  the  Church,  is  the  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  was  believed  to 
be  more  than  man,  the  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  is  what  men  believed  him 
to  be,  the  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God." — Canon  Liddon. 

HAVING  tested  the  historical  statements  in  Scripture  by- 
evidence  in  other  records,  having  noticed  the  pecuH- 
arity  with  which  prophecy  and  its  fulfihnent  have  invested 
the  Bible,  and  having  traced  in  the  "Natural"  the  mysterious 
tokens  of  a  Power  working  in  sovereignty  behind  its  econo- 
mies, we  cannot  escape  the  impression  that  the  same  Being 
who  hath  introduced  into  the  physical  Avorld  new  conditions 
of  structure  and  life,  and  into  mental  history  those  ideas 
which  strangely  or  superhumanly  represented  future  facts, 
centuries  before  their  realisation,  hath  also  placed  in  the  higher 
world, — the  Mental,  the  Moral,  and  the  Spiritual, — those 
liistorical  facts,  those  miraculous  changes,  and  those  doctrinal 
truths  which  lay  beyond  the  reach  alike  of  man's  physical  and 
intellectual  resources.  Physical  changes  for  which  no  known 
natural  forces  can  account,  and  prophecies  for  which,  in  the 
domain  of  thought,  no  satisfactory  explanation,  apart  from 
the  Will  of  God,  has  ever  been  offered,  constitute  of  them- 
selves sufficient  warrant  for  receiving  the  Bible  as  a  divine 
Revelation,  and  Christianity  with  all  its  miracles  as  a  divine 
system.     Christianity  claims  to  be  supernatural.     It  reveals 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  349 

truths  beyond  the  range  of  human  thought,  and  that  is 
supernatural ;  it  records  miracles,  and  they  are  supernatural. 
The  two  are  inseparably  inwrought  with  one  another, — the 
miracle  of  revelation  itself,  and  the  miracles  which  are 
recorded  in  the  Scriptures.  The  proposal  to  accept  the 
Bible  without  its  prophecies,  and  Christianity  alone  without 
its  miracles,  is  to  deprive  both  of  almost  every  vestige  of 
moral  value.  The  traces  of  the  supernatural  are  so  abundant 
in  the  Bible,  and  so  distinctly  characteristic  of  it,  that  to  efface 
them  or  cut  them  out  would  be  to  render  the  Book  and  its 
system  of  truth  so  utterly  meaningless,  that  it  would  become 
a  piece  of  useless  patchwork,  with  no  trace  of  its  connection 
whatever  with  the  works  of  God  in  Creation,  and  that  union 
which  has  recently  become  better  known  in  the  light  of 
science  would  be  unappreciated. 

The  systematic  study  of  Nature  alone  creates  a  predis- 
position to  look  for,  and  acknowledge,  the  Supernatural  in 
any  higher  system  of  truth  which  might  be  brought  within 
man's  reach,  and  accordingly  the  Scriptures  are  so  pervaded 
by  tokens  of  a  controlling  presence  above  all  that  is  merely 
human,  that  they  harmonise  with  the  evidence  in  Nature  of 
the  Supernatural.  That  there  is  development  in  the  life  of 
every  individual,  and  that  there  is  evolution  in  separate 
systems  or  economies,  every  one  admits ;  but  there  is  not 
the  least  evidence  to  prove,  as  has  been  already  fully  stated, 
that  the  one  system  has  been  evolved  from  the  other ;  that 
the  different  systems  of  inorganic  bodies,  and  of  organised 
beings,  have  been  evolved  from  some  very  simple  beginnings; 
and  that  the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  man  has  been 
evolved  from  either  inorganic  matter,  or  from  some  mollus- 
cous creature. 

But  supposing  that  both  development  and  evolution 
should  be  found  to  extend  much  more  comprehensively  in 


350  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

breadth  and  depth  than  we  yet  imagine,  the  result  should 
not  in  the  least  degree  affect  our  confidence  in  the  dispensa- 
tions of  Providence  and  the  means  of  Grace.  There  are 
higher  laws  than  tliis  material  frame-work,  with  its  plant  and 
animal  existences,  can  ever  exhibit ;  there  is  the  Sphere  of 
Providence  as  it  regulates  individual,  domestic,  and  national 
histories  ;  but  beyond  and  above  it  there  is  the  economy  of 
Grace,  or  the  Plan  of  Redemption,  and  every  student  is 
responsible  for  the  mastery  of  its  doctrines  and  its  duties. 

On  turning  our  attention  closely  to  the  Word  of  God,  that 
the  Economy  of  Grace  may  be  knoA\'n  aright,  we  naturally 
expect  that  the  same  method  of  manifesting  truth  will  be 
exhibited  which  appears  in  God's  works  around  us,  and  we 
are  not  disappointed.  The  Natural  and  the  Supernatural 
reappear  in  forms  still  more  distinctly  recognisable,  and  the 
progress iveness  which  we  have  already  described  as  apparent 
in  the  adjustments  of  the  globe  and  in  the  development  of 
Life-forms,  is  still  more  obvious  in  the  development  of 
Revealed  truth  and  in  the  unfolded  means  of  Grace.  At 
the  very  commencement  of  the  Bible,  there  is  that  pro- 
foundly comprehensive  prophecy  or  promise  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made, — "  I  will  put  enmity 
between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her 
seed;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his 
heel."  ^  All  that  has  transpired  in  the  history  of  the  world 
is  morally  an  evolution  from  the  twofold  truth  in  that  broad 
announcement. 

These  facts  at  the  very  outset,  taken  in  connection  with 
what  has  followed,  could  not  be  a  natural  evolution  of  human 
thinking ;  they  must  have  been  supernaturally  communicated. 
The  first  distinctly  recognised  element  in  the  revelation  of 

^  Genesis  iii.  15. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  351 

truths  which  lie  beyond  the  grasp  of  man  is  supernatural ; 
indeed,  all  the  Facts  of  Grace  must  have  a  supernatural 
connection.  The  Bible  carries  in  its  pages  abundant 
evidence  of  the  supernatural,  not  only  in  its  separate  exalted 
tnUhs,  and  in  prophecies  long  mysterious,  but  in  the  whole 
foundation  and  scope  of  Christianity.  The  Plan  of  Redemp- 
tion is  itself  supernatural,  and  the  communication  of  that 
plan,  be  the  means  what  they  may,  was  ever  dependent  on 
the  Mind  of  a  Being  higher  than  man.  If  these  views  be 
refused  on  the  plea  of  the  Universality  of  Law,  how  account 
for  those  facts  and  movements  which  have  transcended  all 
that  has  yet  transpired  within  the  sphere  of  the  material,  the 
intellectual,  and  the  moral,  in  any  of  those  lands  in  which 
the  light  of  Scripture  has  never  shone  ?  We  challenge  an 
answer.  The  review  of  "  Religious  Beliefs,"  which  has  been 
commenced,  and  which,  we  trust,  \vill  be  sedulously  prose- 
cuted, cannot  possibly  prove  that  Christianity,  mth  its  ideas, 
doctrines,  and  precepts,  is  a  mere  evolution  in  the  upward 
struggle  of  the  religious  sentiment  in  man.  Its  origin  is 
distinctly  traceable  to  a  time  when,  historically,  it  could  not 
be  an  evolution  ;  and  its  character  at  the  present  moment  is 
so  confounding  to  all  false  religions,  that  they  could  not 
possibly  give  it  originating  impulse  and  moulding  process. 
If  they  did,  why  are  they  not  now  originating,  apart  from 
Christianity,  a  similar,  or  some  other  exalted,  scheme  ? 

While  rejecting  the  natural  development  of  Religious 
Belief,  some  very  able  Christian  wTiters  are  evidently 
much  perplexed  by  the  assertion  of  strenuous  opponents, 
that  the  suspension  of  physical  laws  is  inconceivable,  and  by 
their  repudiating  the  possibility  of  Spirit  in  any  way  interfer- 
ing with  material  processes.  Of  the  mode  in  wiiich  Spirit 
so  influences  matter  as  to  produce  changes,  we  have  no 
definite  idea,  but  that  Spirit  can  and  does  thus  work  is  a 


352  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [chap.  xvi. 


Fact.  ^Vhenever  we  raise  our  arm,  we  affect  that  law  of  matter 
by  which  it  would  hang  by  our  side ;  whenever  we  cast  a 
stone  into  the  air,  our  spirit  acts  on  matter ;  and  so  also  in 
a  thousand  different  ways.  It  does  not,  in  the  least,  modify 
this  connection  of  Spirit  with  matter,  that  the  human  mind 
controls  it  in  a  manner  distinct  from  that  in  which  the 
Divine  Spirit  may  be  supposed  to  produce  changes  which 
are  to  us  miracles  in  both  cases.  The  mode  of  action,  or 
the  connection  with  two  distinct  existences,  is  inconceivable. 
But,  in  reality,  the  action  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  making  the 
iron  swim,  or  in  the  miracle  of  walking  on  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  presents  in  itself  no  greater  difficulties  than  the 
action  of  the  human  spirit  on  the  body,  and,  through  the 
body,  on  the  various  objects  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 

There  is  an  obvious  source  of  weakness  in  the  concession 
by  Christian  writers  of  absolute  supremacy  to  what  has  been 
not  inappropriately  designated  the  "  Reign  of  Law."  It  is 
a  mistake  to  be  ever  attempting  to  bring  the  higher  move- 
ments of  Providence  and  Grace  within  the  limits  of  tlie 
lower  material  processes  of  creation,  and  it  is  no  less  an 
error  to  be  ever  reasoning  as  if  all  Nature  were  stereotyped, 
fixed,  unchangeable,  incapable  even  of  modification  except  by 
higher  or  hidden  laws,  which,  in  their  own  sphere,  also,  must 
be  physical,  or  conformable  in  nature  to  that  on  which  they 
act.  There  is,  of  course,  the  prevalence  of  Law  ;  there  is 
the  Order  of  Nature,  and  we  count  on  its  continuance ; 
what  has  been,  we  expect  to  be.  By  this  principle,  and  its 
recognition,  human  life  is  regulated  and  utilised  ;  but  what 
has  been  in  the  past  is  not  a  logical  warrant  for  dogmatically 
asserting  that  the  past  shall  be  invariably  repeated  in  the 
future,  and  that  change  or  reverse  is  in  every  form  impossible. 
All  that  can  be  held  by  us  as  to  the  future,  is  an  expectation. 
The  facts  and  the  laws  which  make  up  what  is  called  the 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  353 

constitution  of  our  present  complex  physical  system,  depended 
at  the  beginning,  solely  on  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Creator; 
and  the  continuance  of  this  system,  or  of  any  part  of  it,  must 
ever  be  associated  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  same  omnipotent 
Preserver.  All  that  comes  within  the  sphere  of  our  obser- 
vation, justifies  our  conclusions  as  to  Law  being  universal  in 
the  past,  but  it  does  not  justify  our  so  accepting  that 
universal  Law  as  to  make  it  a  Proposition,  rendering  any 
change  or  modification  in  the  future  impossible.  ^  Law  in 
the  past  warrants  no  more  than  an  expectation  in  the  future, 
— an  expectation,  it  is  true,  that  amounts  to  practical  cer- 
tainty when  no  contrary  is  anticipated,  but  to  no  more,  and 
therefore  all  reasoning  as  if  it  did  amount  to  more  is  vitiated. 
It  is  by  accepting  the  absolute  certainty  of  the  one  aspect  as 
if  it  equally  covered  what  can  be  no  more  than  mere 
practical  certainty  in  the  other,  that  many  are  led  into  error 
when  interpreting  Scripture  and  estimating  the  supernatural 
or  miraculous.  It  is  this  really  unphilosophical  view  which 
has  led  to  the  attempt  to  reduce  every  miracle  recorded  in 
Scripture  to  the  level  of  Law,  either  open  or  hidden.  To 
carry  through  their  theory,  its  advocates  are  bound  to 
explain  all  that  is  supernatural  in  Christianity.  To 
leave  out-standing  facts  unaccounted  for,  or  to  be  ex- 
plained by  hidden  laws,  is  to  hinder,  rather  than  help, 
those  who  are  anxiously  turning  their  attention  to  this 
subject. 

The  discussion  has  of  late  been  conducted  through  phases 
tliat  may  well  arrest  and  alarm  the  Bible  student.  Amid 
the  demands  of  scepticism  and  the  concessions  of  too 
generous   Christian    apologists,   there   is   great   danger    of 

^  See  Mozley's  "  Bampton  I,cctuie.s  on  Miracles,"  chapter,  Order  of 
Nature,  and  Note  5. 

Z 


354  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 


our  losing  sight  of  what  is  fundamental  and  essential  in 
Christianity.  The  contest  is  being  again  narrowed  to 
Hume's  almost  lately  unheeded  position.  The  reign  of 
Law  is  held  to  be  more  powerful  than  the  highest 
human  testimony ;  and  the  reasonings  of  Campbell, 
Paley,  Chalmers,  and  others,  are  unfortunately  forgotten  or 
neglected  by  many  who  should  add  them  to  their  armoury, 
and  wield  them  anew.  While  the  phrase  "  reign  of  Law  " 
serves,  with  not  a  few,  to  cover  their  inveterate  opposition 
to  the  whole  Christian  system,  it  is  influencing  some  pro- 
minent writers  so  much,  that  they  appear  to  be  hampered 
rather  than  aided  by  the  miracles  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament ;  and  their  chief  concern  seems  to  be,  so  to  in- 
sphere  them  in  a  kind  of  speculative  philosophy  as  to  har- 
monise them,  on  the  one  hand,  with  a  materialistic  belief 
in  the  absolute  reign  of  Law,  and  on  the  other,  with  an 
honest  acceptance  of  the  simple  yet  sublime  records  of 
Christianity. 

In  illustration  of  this  tendency,  it  may  suffice  to  quote 
the  following  somewhat  qualified  statements  : — "  Yet,"  says 
Principal  Tulloch,  "  when  we  reflect  that  this  higher  Will  is 
everyAvhere  reason  and  wisdom,  it  seems  a  juster  as  well  as 
a  more  comprehensive  view,  to  regard  it  as  operating  by 
subordination  and  evolution,  rather  than  by  '  interference ' 
or  '  violation.'  According  to  this  view,  the  idea  of  Law  is 
so  far  from  being  contravened  by  the  Christian  miracles,  that 
it  is  taken  up  by  them  and  made  their  very  basis.  They 
are  the  expression  of  a  higher  Law,  working  out  its  wise 
ends  among  the  lower  and  ordinary  sequences  of  life  and 
history.  These  ordinary  sequences  represent  nature — 
nature,  however,  not  as  an  immutable  fact,  but  a  plastic 
medium  through  which  a  higher  Voice  and  Will  are 
ever  addressing  us ;  and  which,  therefore,  may  be  \\TOught 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  355 

into  new  issues,  when  the  Voice  has  a  new  message  and  the 
Will  a  special  purpose  for  us."^ 

The  same  viev/  is  advocated  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll : 
"xA-ssuredly,  whatever  may  be  the  difficulties  of  Christianity, 
this  is  not  one  of  them — that  it  calls  on  us  to  believe  in 
any  exception  to  the  universal  prevalence  and  power  of  Law, 
Its  leading  facts  and  doctrines  are  directly  connected  with 
this  beUef,  and  directly  suggestive  of  it"  (p.  51).  And  after 
quoting  passages  of  Scripture  to  connect  the  Divine  mission 
of  the  Saviour  with  a  certain  inscrutable  necessity,  he  adds, 
"Whatever  more  there  may  be  in  such  passages,  they  all 
imply  the  universal  reign  of  Law  in  the  moral  and  spiritual, 
as  well  as  in  the  material  world  :  that  these  laws  had  to  be — 
behoved  to  be — obeyed  ;  and  that  the  results  to  be  obtained 
are  brought  about  by  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end ; 
or,  as  it  were,  by  way  of  natural  consequence,  from  the 
instrumentality  employed."  - 

Doubtless,  Jesus  Christ  was  subject  not  only  to  natural 
and  moral  laws,  but  to  all  the  requirements  of  Redemption, 
and  the  Gospel  which  His  disciples  preached  is  conformable 
to  human  necessities ;  but  to  concede  all  that  Principal 
TuUoch  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll  demand,  is  to  involve  the 
whole  question  of  Revelation  and  the  system  which  it 
unfolds — Christianity — in  a  confusion  from  which  it  cannot 
be  extricated.  If  their  claim  be  granted, — that  the  idea  of 
hnv  is  the  "  very  basis  "  of  Christian  miracles,  and  that  we 
are  not  called  on  "  to  believe  in  any  exception "  to  the 
universal  prevalence  and  power  of  Law, — it  must  suffice  to 
explain  all  the  facts  which  are  placed  before  us.  If  it 
leave  some  outside  their  conclusion,  it  cannot  satisfy  us. 
PZvery  miracle  must  be  explicable  by  this  principle,  it  must 

^  "Begiiining']of  Life,"  p.  86.  -  "  Reign  of  Law, "  p.  52. 


356  BLENDING  LIGHTS,  [uHAP.  xvi. 

be  ultimately  referable  to  Law  as  the  "  basis ;"  and  what  is 
the  issue  but  this,  that  the  whole  system  may  yet  be  reduced 
to  the  ordinary  level  of  the  natural,  like  the  formerly  unex- 
plained mystery  of  eclipses,  and  we  shall  have  no  foundation 
on  which  to  rest  our  hope  as  to  the  Unseen  and  Eternal  ? 
Divested  of  all  evidence  of  the  supernatural,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  a  personal  controlling  power,  there  is  nothing  to 
draw  the  mind  upward,  and  give  it  stability  and  comfort. 
Is  this  theory  tenable  ?  Is  this  result  possible  ?  We  think 
not.     We  agree  with  Principal  M'Cosh  when  he  says, — 

"  It  should  not  be  allowed  for  one  moment  that  we  are 
not  at  liberty  to  look  upon  an  event  as  springing  from  the 
supernatural  power  of  God,  unless  it  can  be  shown  to  be  a 
link  in  a  concatenated  combination.  There  is  a  loose  and 
empty  style  of  speaking  in  our  day  about  miracles  being, 
after  all,  referable  to  a  higher  law,  which  either  has  no 
definite  meaning,  or  may  be  understood  in  a  misleading 
sense,  and,  at  best,  is  no  way  fitted  to  gain  the  opponents 
of  supernaturalism,  who  by  law  always  mean  one  consistent 
thing,  and  that  is,  natural  laAv.  If  it  is  meant  that  miracles 
can  all  be  referred  to  some  higher  natural  law,  discoverable 
or  undiscoverable,  the  impression  may  be  left,  that  they  are 
like  meteors,  or  like  mesmerism,  simply  mysteries  which 
may  yet  come  within  natural  explanation,  and  which  cannot, 
therefore,  be  evidential  of  supernatural  action.  If  it  is 
meant  that  they  can  all  be  referred  to  some  supernatural 
law,  known  or  unknown,  the  assertion  is  made  without  a 
warrant  from  revelation.  .  .  .  It  is  quite  conceivable, 
indeed,  that  there  may  be  some  such  law  beyond  our  ken, 
but  of  what  use  can  it  be  to  appeal  to  a  law  unknown  and 
unknowable.  It  is  quite  as  conceivable  that  God  may  have 
wrought  in  our  world  an  isolated  occurrence,  having  no 
connection,  physical,  causal,  or  dependent,  with  any  other 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  357 

mundane  occurrence,  except  the  profound  relations  which 
all  things  have  one  to  another  in  the  Divine  Mind."  ^ 

We  may  with  perfect  consistency  go  even  farther  than  the 
supposition  that  "  //  is  quite  conceivable  that  God  may  have 
\vrought  in  our  world  an  isolated  occurrence ; "  and  assume 
the  fact.  We  have  a  solid  foundation  on  which  to  rest ;  the 
creation  of  the  "  heavens  and  the  earth  "  is  an  isolated  oc- 
currence— the  instituting  of  laws  is  an  isolated  occurrence — 
the  origin  of  life  is  an  isolated  occurrence — the  appearance 
of  man  as  rational,  moral,  and  responsible,  is  an  isolated 
occurrence ;  and  we  are  warranted  in  denying  the  sufficiency 
of  proof  to  the  contrary.  We  do  not  claim  belief  that  God 
ordinarily  interferes  with  the  processes  of  natural  law.  It 
has  its  reign.  But  He  has  interfered  with  law,  He  has 
interfered  with  the  laws  of  the  inorganic  structure  by  the 
supervention  of  the  laws  of  plant  life,  and  so  on  upward 
through  the  stages  which  we  have  already  described,  until 
there  is  no  resting-place  for  the  observant  inquirer  lower 
than  the  Infinite  and  Sovereign  Mind. 

If  this  is  denied  on  the  plea  of  the  universality  of  law, 
how  account  for  even  those  facts  of  lesser  import,  which 
yet  transcendently  overtop  the  ordinary  movements  of 
material,  intellectual,  and  moral  being  ?  Among  the  sub- 
ordinate in  the  material,  we  have  iron  rising  to  the  surface 
apparently  by  the  will  of  the  prophet,  but  really  by  a  higher 
power  operating  through  man's  will  as  its  medium,  and 
reversing  the  law  by  which  iron  sinks.  When  the  waters  of 
the  Jordan  ceased  their  course  to  the  Dead  Sea  until  the 
Israelites  passed  over,  there  was  more  than  hidden  laws  can 
conceivably  explain.  Among  the  subordinate  in  the  intel- 
lectual, we  have  Prophecy.     How  possibly  deduce  that  far 

1  "The  Supernatural,"  p.  l68. 


358  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 

insight  into  the  future,  from  law  or  evolution?  How  have 
facts,  centuries  distant,  been  brought  within  man's  grasp  ? 
The  prediction  and  its  fulfilment,  after  an  interval  of  many 
centuries,  have  been  completely  adjusted.  While  there  are 
miracles  in  the  Christian  system  which  perfectly  hannonise 
with  its  exalted  truths  and  doctrines,  they  cannot  possibly 
be  all  reduced  within  the  range  of  Laws  either  known  or 
hidden.  Although  some  of  the  miracles,  it  is  true,  may  be 
directly  associated  with  special  ends,  there  are  others  of  more 
comprehensive  import  which  can  be  brought  within  the 
sphere  of  no  law  whatever,  conformably  to  which  God  must 
necessarily  act ;  four  may  be  specified  which  cannot  be 
reasonably  connected  with  any  law  in  nature  or  behind  it, 
apart  from  the  directly  controlling  will  of  God  : — i,  Revela- 
tion ;  2,  the  Incarnation  of  Christ ;  3,  His  Resurrection  ; 
and  4,  His  Ascension, 

I.  Revelation.  \\.\%  in  origin,  absolutely  %\!i\itx\\oX\.\xiS..  "All 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God ; '  "Holy  men  of  God 
spake  as  they  ivere  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  As  truth,  it  is 
relatively  supernatural  to  those  higher  and  highest  truths 
which  man  himself  can  reach  in  the  domain  of  human 
thought,  and  some  of  which,  as  natural,  have  been  inwrought 
with  what  is  the  subject  of  direct  revelation.  All  that  is 
unfolded  in  Scripture  as  to  redemption  is,  in  origin,  super- 
natural, although  reaching  us  now  through  the  ordinary 
channels  of  a  written  Word. 

2.  The  Incarnation  of  the  blessed  Redeemer  is  also,  in 
its  origin,  absolutely  supernatural.  It  can  be  reduced  to  no 
law.  It  is  absolute  as  the  origin  of  creation.  But  while  the 
first  movement  of  the  Son  in  His  Incarnation,  and  in  that 
humiliation  which  was  to  be  specially  His  own  in  the 
economy  of  redemption,  was  absolutely  supernatural,  it  was 
relatively  supernatural  as  to  "  the  true  body  and  reasonable 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  359 


soul,"  and  also  as  to  His  life  being  holy  and  "  separate  from 
sinners."  While  He  revealed  God  as  He  is,  and  man  as  he 
ought  to  be,  He  was  in  His  human  history  subject  like  other 
men  to  the  ordinary  influences  of  material,  mental,  and  moral 
laws ;  and  He  thus  combined  in  His  life  the  natural  and  the 
relatively  as  well  as  the  absolutely  supernatural. 

3.  The  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  centre-doctrine 
of  the  Christian  Church,  has  been  established  by  most  con- 
vincing proofs.  The  apostles  had  seen  Him,  they  had  eaten 
with  Him,  they  had  touched  Him,  they  had  in  different  cir- 
cumstances vcriiied  their  impressions ;  and  thereafter,  "  with 
great  power  gave  the  Apostles  witness  of  the  Resurrection  of 
the  Lord  Jesus."  ^  No  truth  is  more  forcibly  or  more  dis- 
tinctly presented  in  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  the  fact  to  which 
Christ  Himself  appealed  as  warranting  his  claim  to  the 
homage  of  the  world.  So  irresistible  is  the  evidence  of  the 
literal  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  grave,  that  it  is 
accepted  as  a  fact,  not  only  by  orthodox  churches,  but  even 
by  some  prominent  rationalistic  critics  who  discredit  His 
other  miracles  of  power,  and  also  his  ascension  into  heaven. 
As  it  is  not,  however,  with  the  proof  of  the  fact  we  have  to 
do,  but  with  the  explanation  by  which  some  Christian 
writers  attempt  to  bring  this  great  miracle  within  the  scope 
of  hidden  laws,  we  have  to  urge,  in  reply,  that  although  such 
is  in  itself  imaginable,  there  is  not  a  vestige  of  proof  to 
warrant  the  supposition,  and  it  is  utterly  inconceivable  and 
inadmissible,  if  it  is  meant  thereby  to  dissociate  the  result 
from  the  directly  originating  and  guiding  power  of  God. 
The  attempt  to  explain  the  resurrection  of  Christ  by  referring 
it  to  some  unknown  law,  increases,  rather  than  lessens,  the 
difficulty,  by  constraining  us  to  read  the  New  Testament 

1  Acts  iv,  33. 


360  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cilAP.  XVi. 

record  in  a  diftercnt  sense  from  that  which  is  obviously 
inipHed.  We  cannot  place  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection 
within  the  sphere  of  hidden  laws  witliout  doing  violence  to 
plain  historical  statements,  for  Christ  himself  has  expressly 
declared  that  He  had  power  over  life  and  death  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  that  He  was  above  the  sway  of  what  we  term 
Universal  Law.  "  Therefore  doth  my  Father  love  me, 
because  I  lay  down  my  life  that  I  might  take  it  again.  No 
man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself.  I  have 
power  to  LAV  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it 
AGAIN."  ^  While  our  human  nature  has  been  given  to  us.  He 
assumed  this  nature ;  "  He  took  to  himself  a  true  body  and 
a  reasonable  soul."  These  and  similar  declarations  reveal 
in  Jesus  a  power  absolutely  independent  of  those  natural 
laws  or  forces,  which  he  used  supernaturally  or  miraculously 
in  accompUshing  the  great  ends  of  his  mission. 

4.  In  the  Ascension  of  the  Lord  Jesus  we  have  another 
Fact,  dazzling  in  its  splendour,  and  revealing  supernatural 
action.  His  bodily  Ascension,  in  the  presence  of  his 
disciples,  while  it  overbore  and  set  aside  the  universal  law 
of  gravitation,  has  given  us  no  glimpse  of  any  other  more 
powerful  counteractive  law,  nor  any  warrant,  indeed,  for 
supposing  that  such  a  law  has  ever  existed.  The  evidence 
of  the  Fact  itself  is  complete,  and  the  manner  with  which  it  is 
described  has  singular  impressiveness.  "  And  he  led  them 
out  as  far  as  to  Bethany ;  and  he  lifted  up  his  hands,  and 
blessed  them.  And  it  came  to  pass  while  he  blessed  them, 
he  was  parted  from  them,  and  carried  up  into  heaven.  And 
when  he  had  spoken  these  things,  while  they  beheld,  he  was 
taken  up  and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight."  -' 
There  is  no  possible  explanation  of  these  words  but  that 


^  John  X.  17,  i8.  '  Luke  xxiv.  50,  51  j  Acts  i.  9. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  2>(n 

which  their  obvious  meaning  suggests.  Jesus  has  ascended 
to  glory ;  and  we  think  "it  unnecessary,  with  those  who 
accept  the  Bible  narrative  as  true,  either  to  state  the  objec- 
tions of  such  as  Strauss,  or  the  answers  of  such  as  Ebrard. 
There  may  have  been  the  adaptation  or  the  introduction  of 
higher  laws  to  facilitate  ascent,  thus  constituting  here,  also, 
relatively  supernatural  action ;  but  in  the  outgoing  of  the 
will  and  power  of  Jesus,  there  was  the  absolutely  super- 
natural. Like  the  Incarnation  and  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Ascension  is  mysterious  in  its  process ;  it  cannot 
possibly  be  explained  by  physical  science ;  it  is  a  fact,  at  the 
same  time,  which  is  but  the  natural — we  may  add — the  in- 
evitable, outcome  from  the  resurrection.  Jesus  had  risen;  and 
as  he  was  not  again  to  die,  it  was  essential  that  he  should  pass 
from  his  earthly  existence  in  a  supernatural  way,  and  it  was 
consoling  to  his  sorrowing  disciples,  as  it  is  now  satisfactory  to 
every  believer,  to  have  the  facts  of  his  departure  distinctly 
stated,  although  that  departure  to  a  higher  sphere  cannot  be 
proved  by  even  the  ingenuity  of  modern  science  to  have 
been  in  the  least  degree  conformable  to  any  ordinary  or 
knoHTi  or  hidden  laws.  But  the  fact  is  certain,  like  the 
Resurrection  itself;  and  as  the  Resurrection  is  but  the 
beginning  of  the  Ascension,  —as  it  is  in  his  grave  the  first 
ray  of  his  future  glory  shines, — both  facts  must  stand  or  fall 
together, 

IV.  Results  in  the  History  of  Christianity. 

In  Revelation,  the  Incarnation  of  Christ  Jesus,  His 
Death,  Resurrection,  and  Ascension,  apart  from  many  other 
impressive  events,  there  is  such  a  singular  yet  perfectly 
hamionious  combination,  not  only  of  miracles  but  of 
doctrines,  as  renders  Christianity  easily  distinguishable  from 
every  other  religious  system,  and  as  naturally  leads  every 
unprejudiced  student  to  anticipate  corresponding  results. 


362  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 


And  so  it  is.  The  liistory  of  Christianity  in  the  world  is 
its  best  interpreter,  it  reveals  a  series  of  changes  so  distinct 
as  to  be  easily  traceable  in  the  character  of  individuals  and 
of  nations ;  it  represents  the  evolution  of  doctrine  in  the 
higher  life  of  renewed  men,  and  it  is  ever  e.\liibiting  all 
those  remedial  influences  which  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  enables 
man  everywhere  to  appropriate. 

As  this  subject  is  too  extensive  to  be  fully  discussed 
within  the  space  at  our  disposal,  we  must  restrict  ourselves 
to  a  brief  review  of  those  results  which  depend  on  doctrines 
chiefly  related  to  the  Person  of  Christ,  and  which  are  mani- 
fested in  Individual,  Social,  and  National  Life. 

I .  The  Doctrines  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  create 
a  new  motive  to  action  and  sustain  an  ennobling  aim. 
Love  and  holiness  are  their  natural  fruits.  In  the  multifari- 
ous religions  of  the  world,  this  motive  to  action  and  this  aim 
were  absent.  There  was  an  abiding  and  ever  deeply  felt 
want,  which  they  utterly  failed  to  remove  or  lessen.  The 
sublime  moral  maxims  of  Oriental  nations, — the  early  learning 
of  Kgypt, — the  philosophic  and  aesthetic  culture  of  Greece, — 
and  the  jurisprudence  of  Rome,  rising  from  the  midst  of  an 
all-embracing  idolatry, — never  produced  any  results  approach- 
ing those  which  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  has  diftused 
tlirough  every  generation.  For  at  least  six  thousand  years, 
the  world  has  done  its  best  to  repress  evil  and  lessen  sorrow, 
but  has  failed.  Untaught  by  experience,  the  world  continues 
its  vain  struggle.  Philosophy  has  long  striven  to  solve 
the  problem  of  human  life,  and  has  failed.  Poetry  lus 
long  sung  its  most  ennobling  strains,  and  has  failed. 
Political  wisdom  has  run  its  course  of  secular  expedients, 
and  has  failed.  Unaided  humanity  has  had  no  spirit  with 
power  enough  to  rise  above  its  own  dark  and  troubled 
waters,  and  evolve  from  its  chaos  light,  beauty,  and  stability. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  363 

But  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Cross,  in  the  Gospel  reveahng 
the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  is  the  supernatural 
introduction  of  a  new  motive  power, — there  is  that  which  is 
changing  the  intellectual  and  moral  aspects  of  the  whole 
world.  Although  heathen  philosophers  understood  not  the 
gospel,  the  olden  prophets  proclaimed  its  power ;  although 
earliest  poets  could  assign  it  no  place  in  their  strains,  it 
gave  a  tenderer  thrill  to  David's  lyre,  and  with  it  Solomon 
enriched  his  song ;  although  to  the  Greek  it  was  foolishness, 
and  to  the  Jew  a  stumbling-block,  it  became  mighty  to  the 
pulling  down  of  the  strongholds  of  Satan ;  and  although 
Saul  of  Tarsus  constrained  men  to  attempt  to  swear  it  down, 
it  subdued  his  own  heart,  and  led  him,  in  the  face  ahke  of 
friend  and  foe,  henceforth  with  unfaltering  tongue  to  pro- 
claim his  one  great  resolve, — "  God  forbid  that  I  should 
glory,  save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 

The  doctrines  of  the  Cross,  as  dependent  not  on  a  system 
but  on  a  Person,  Jesus  Christ,  gave  the  motive  poweif  that 
was  needed  by  the  world  to  connect,  through  grace,  its 
knowledge  of  the  right,  with  the  doing  of  it.  In  the 
wondrous  truths  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  of 
His  death,  of  His  resurrection,  and  of  His  ascension,  is 
much  of  the  vitalising  power  which,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  is 
re-animating  a  perishing  world,  and^  enriching  it  with  moral 
loveliness.  These  truths  represent  pre-eminently  the  love 
and  the  wisdom  of  God  as  originating  that  which,  in  the 
gift  of  the  Son,  was  absolutely  supernatural.  "  For  God  so 
loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  ^  "  And  we  have  seen,  and  do  testify,  that 
the  Father  hath  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world."  - 


^  John  iii.  16.        '^  I.  John  iv,  14. 


3^4  BLENDING    LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 

This  giving  of  the  Son, — this  "  God  sent  His  Son," — can, 
by  no  conceivable  process  of  thought,  be  referred  to  any 
law.  Its  secrets  are  in  the  Divine  counsels.  AV'ith  what 
singular  exactness  the  apostles'  delineation  of  the  life  and 
character  of  Jesus  corresponds  with  the  simple  yet  sublime 
announcement  of  the  Evangelist !  "  God  sent  not  His  Son 
into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world ;  but  that  the  world 
through  Him  might  be  saved."  ^  "  Let  this  mind  be  in  you, 
which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus :  who,  being  in  the  form  of 
God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God ;  but 
made  Himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  Him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men  ; 
and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man.  He  humbled  Himself, 
and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
Cross.  Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  Him,  and 
given  Him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name  :  that  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth ;  and  thixt 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Clirist  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  - 

2.  These  and  similar  descriptions  separate  the  Bible  from 
all  other  books,  and  Christ  Jesus  from  all  other  persons. 
In  the  announcement  of  His  Advent,  and  in  the  records  of 
His  Life,  there  is  a  history  which  rises  above  all  histories. 
Christ  can  no  more  be  classified  with  mankind,  than  His 
miracles  can  be  reduced  to  ordinary  events.  His  whole  Ufe 
attests  the  truth  that  He  is  from  above,  and  that  He  came 
to  save  the  lost.  Christianity  is,  in  this  view,  "a  historically 
superhuman  movement  in  the  world,  that  is  Aisibly  entered 
into  it,  and  organised  to  be  an  institution  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.     He  is  the  central  figure;  He  is  the  unfailing 

'  John  iii.  17.  *  Philippians  ii.  5-11. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  3^5 


power;  and,  with  Him,  the  entire  fabric  either  stands  or 
falls."  ^  Christ  was  himself  a  revelation  of  God,  "  He  was 
the  brightness  of  His  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His 
person ; "  he  was  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  Humble 
as  He  was  among  men,  He  willed  to  be  a  king,  and  His 
ministerial  work  was  one  continued  proclamation  of  His 
absolute  and  unrivalled  sway ;  and  when  that  ministry  on 
earth  had  terminated,  He  encouraged  His  disciples  by  the 
declaration,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth,"  and  by  the  thrilling  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  rceji  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  As  we  study  His 
character  and  His  claims,  we  are  constrained  to  acknowledge 
the  truth  of  Isaiah's  prophecy, — "  And  His  name  shall  be 
called  Wonderful;"''^  and  ''we  discover,  as  did  the  first 
Christians,  beneath  and  beyond  all  that  meets  the  eye  of 
sense  and  the  eye  of  conscience,  the  Eternal  Person  of  our 
Lord  himself.  It  is  not  the  miracles,  but  the  Maker ;  not 
the  character,  but  the  living  subject ;  not  the  teaching,  but 
the  Master;  not  even  the  Death  or  the  Resurrection,  but 
He  who  died  and  rose  again;  upon  whom  Christian 
Thought,  Christian  Love,  Christian  Resolution,  ultimately 
rest."^  To  Him  alone  believers  on  earth,  like  the  ransomed 
in  glory,  turn  as  "  all  their  salvation  and  all  their  desire." 

The  Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the  very  foundation  of 
Christianity.  He  is  its  source  and  its  support.  He  is  its 
embodiment.  As  well  take  the  Sun  from  our  system,  as 
Christ  from  Christianity.  Philosophy  can  exist  apart  from 
the  philosopher.  Science  from  the  scientist.  Art  from  the 
artist ;  but  not  so  Christianity.  Platonism  may  remain 
though    Plato   may  be   himself  forgotten,  astronomy  may 

^  See  Bushnell's  "Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  chapter  x. 

"  Isaiah  ix.  6. 

'  Licldon's  Bampton  Lectures  on  "Our  Lord's  Divinity,"  p.  146. 


3<^6  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XVI. 


remain  though  Newton  or  Laplace  may  not  once  reappear 
in  the  student's  memory,  and  so  of  all  human  systems ;  but 
Christianity'without  Christ  evanishes  as  intellectual  vapour,  ^ 
and_becomes  alike  powerless  and  unprofitable.  This  lowly 
Jesus  has  become  the  great  centre  of  thought  in  the  civilised 
world.  Men  cannot  rest  in  his  teaching  alone,  or  his 
doctrines ;  they  see  in  them  all  Himself,  and  every^vhere 
they  are  now  in  the  profoundest  sense  acknowledging  His 
intellectual  and  moral  pre-eminence.  Religious  controversies 
ha\'e  removed  from  their  old  positions,  and  they  are  con- 
centrating their  forces  around  the  person  of  Jesus.  The 
highest  ^  scholarship,  the  most  cultivated  taste,  and  the 
profoundest  philosophy,  have  united  their  resources  in 
analysing" His  character  and  in  portraying  His  life. 

Intellectually  and  emotionally,  is  the  prophetic  declaration 
being'fulfilled  :  "And  I,  if  I  be  Ufted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me."  Thought  and  feeling  from  opposite 
poks  are  drawn  to  Him,  whether  in  knowledge,  in  faith,  in 
love,  in  adoration,  or  in  hate  and  fear.  Among  learned  men, 
He  is  in  the  midst  now  as  when  in  the  temple  He  "was  sitting 
in  the  midst  of  the  doctors  asking  them  questions,"  and  taxing 
their  learning  and  their  wisdom.  Scepticism  and  unbelief  are 
accustomed  to  examine  His  claims,  and  ever  as  they  strive  to 
escape,  they  turn  to  look  on  Him,  as  Peter  met  His  glance 
when,  in  cowardice,  he  swore  he  knew  not  the  man. 

3.  Not  only  are  the  fundamental  conditions  and  the 
essential  truths  of  Christianity  miraculous  in  their  origin,  but 
they  are  supernatural  in  the  results  which  they  produce.  Its 
ideas  of  God,  its  clear  delineations  of  heaven,  its  demands  of 
holiness,  of  love,  of  patience,  of  self-denying  toil,  not  for 
the  indigent  only,  but  for  enemies,  its  commands  to  believe 

1  Liddon's  "Our  Lord's  Divinity,"  p.  127. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  367 

in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  its  fulness  of  consolation 
through  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Comforter,  are  blessings  which 
are  inseparable  from  true  Christianity,  but  which  are  dis- 
coverable in  no  other  religious  system.  Truly,  Christendom 
is  not  the  creation  of  mere  human  thought  and  will.  Guizot 
has  informed  us  that  in  stud)nng  for  the  annotation  of 
Gibbon,  he  became  impressed  "  not  only  with  the  moral  and 
social  grandeur  of  Christianity,  but  \\\A\  the  difficulty  of  ex- 
plaining it  by  purely  human  forces  and  causes." 

(a).  The  fruits  of  Christianity  in  Individual  character  are 
apparent.  Union  to  Christ  by  faith  is  the  condition  of  enjoy- 
ments which  never  cease,  it  is  the  source  of  that  "  peace  of 
God  which  passeth  all  understanding,"  and  intensifies  that 
love  through  which  believers  become  more  than  conquerors 
in  their  constant  struggle  with  spiritual  foes. 

Christianity,  originated  in  love,  is  manifested  in  every 
man  by  himself,  and  by  him  in  the  world.  The  perfection 
of  the  individual  is  its  first  aim ;  and  the  second,  the  right 
use  of  that  perfection  in  the  world  for  its  improvement  and 
happiness.  It  takes  man  as  he  is,  sunken  and  debased,  or 
intellectually  equipped  and  socially  refined,  and,  creating  in 
him  the  consciousness  of  sin,  stimulating  his  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility to  the  All-Seeing  and  Just  Ruler,  and  leading 
him  to  feel,  in  the  solitude  of  guilt,  as  if  none  existed  save 
himself  and  his  God,  it  directs  him  to  that  blessed  Redeemer 
who  hath  said  to  the  guiltiest  and  the  vilest,  "  Come  unto 
Me  all  ye  that  labour,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Thus  may 
those  whose  life  has  been  most  enslaved  to  sin  become 
"  heirs  of  God,"  and  exclaim,  "  Behold  what  manner  of  love 
the  Father  hath  bestowed  on  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the 
sons  of  God."  They  are  "  new  creatures,"  and  strive  to  meet 
through  grace  all  the  demands  of  their  higher  sphere.  The 
perfection  which  is  to  be  reached  is  special ;  it  is  not  exactly 


368  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 

that  of  an  unfallen  being,  but,  resting  on  a  distinct  founda- 
tion, and  having  new  characteristics,  it  is  specified  as 
"perfection  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  affections  purified,  the 
understanding  enlightened,  the  will  submissive,  the  conscience 
made  sensitive  and  strengthened,  the  imagination  regulated, 
the  love  abounding  "  yet  more  and  more  in  knowledge  and 
in  all  judgment,"  are  universal  results  in  Christian  life. 
Every  man  is  summoned  to  know,  to  act,  and  to  be  for 
himself  alone  as  accountable  to  God.  He  is  encouraged  to 
look  "  into  the  perfect  law  of  liberty "  that  he  may  learn, 
— to  learn  that  he  may  be  a  "  doer  of  the  work,"  and  to  do 
that  he  may  be  "  blessed  in  the  deed."  What  he  knows, 
he  is  to  apply ;  what  he  receives,  he  is  to  distribute ;  what 
intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  influences  benefit  his  own 
life,  he  is  freely  to  communicate  to  others,  for  the  common 
good.  Thus  does  Christianity  blend  the  doctrinal  and  the 
practical,  theology  and  religion,  the  sublimest  truths  with  the 
commonest  duties  of  daily  life. 

(b).  In  social.,  as  well  as  in  individual  life,  the  assimilative 
influences  of  Christianity  are  distinctly  visible.  The  power 
which,  in  the  breast  of  every  believer,  subdues  and  controls 
his  warring  passions,  no  less  effectively  commands  and 
regulates  the  surging  movements  of  society.  Without  de- 
manding any  change  in  the  external  arrangements  of  society, 
it  has  infused  a  new  spirit,  broken  down  the  middle  wail  of 
partition  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  revolutionised  the 
old  estimate  of  distinctions  between  high  and  low,  learned 
and  unlearned.  It  has  rebuked  selfishness  in  every  form ; 
and  care  for  the  poor,  long  regarded  as  no  part  of  society  at 
all,^  but  only  as  materials  to  be  wasted  in  war  or  in  the 
drudgery  of  home  services,  it  has  not  only  inculcated  by  new 
arguments,  but  sustained  by  new  motives. 

1  See  Bushnell's  "Nature  and  the  SupernaUual,"  p.  241. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  369 


At  the  time  of  Christ's  appearing,  a  kindly  regard  to  the 
poor  had  perished  amid  even  the  stirring  injunctions  of 
Moses,  the  psahnist,  and  the  prophets.  Selfishness  was 
supreme.  The  ordinary  duties  of  common  philanthropy 
were  but  feebly  if  at  all  discharged.  Mutual  love,  in  its 
noblest  sense,  had  ceased  to  be  recognised  by  the  Jews  as  a 
principle  of  action.  Because  distasteful  and  unpopular, 
the  topic  found  no  place  in  the  disquisitions  of  the  moralists 
or  the  religious  expositors  of  that  degenerate  age.  The 
Sadducees  had  no  motive  by  which  to  stimulate  or  sustain 
self-denial,  and  the  Pharisees,  teaching,  with  untroubled 
conscience,  ungrateful  children  to  evade  the  fifth  command- 
ment, and  defraud  their  parents  of  that  filial  aid  which  the 
Law  of  God  and  the  instincts  of  their  own  nature  taught 
them  to  render  freely,  either  shunned  or  disowned  the 
subject.  In  the  midst  of  this  heartless  laxity  of  moral 
principle  Jesus  appeared,  and,  while  by  his  life  he  established 
principles  which  completely  revolutionized  the  ethics  of  the 
world,  he  spoke  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  man  with  a 
spirituality  and  power  never  before  approached  by  prophet, 
or  priest,  or  psalmist. 

In  his  ministry,  human  slavery  lost  the  foundation  which 
tradition  and  custom  had  given  it,  and  its  last  argument 
perished  in  the  overwhelming  fulness  of  that  gospel  which 
was  henceforth  to  be  preached  to  all  nations.  Woman 
also  was  assigned  her  rightful  place  ;  but  although  eighteen 
centuries  have  passed  since  Christianity  restored  and 
honoured  woman's  claims,  her  sunken  condition  in  the 
midst  of  Eastern  civilisation  is  still  as  signal  as  it  is  in  those 
dark  places  which  savage  ferocity  wantonly  stains  with 
human  blood. 

Not  only  has  Christianity  shielded  the  poor,  and  uplifted 
woman,   but   it   has    diffused   those   genialising  influences 

2  A 


37°  BLENDING   LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 


which  bless  the  outcast,  the  maimed,  the  diseased,  and  the 
infirm.  It  pleads  for  them,  and  shelters  them  in  the  asylum, 
the  almshouse,  and  the  hospital.  On  objects  or  themes  like 
these  the  eloquence  of  heathenism  never  spent  its  strength. 
In  Christianity  alone  can  we  find  a  higher  eloquence  plying 
its  power  on  behalf  of  the  suffering  poor  than  ever  thrilled 
the  councils  and  the  courts  of  ancient  heathenism.  In  short, 
in  no  part  of  the  world  has  there  ever  been  raised  any  social 
structure  so  beautiful  in  aspect,  so  lovely  in  proportion,  so 
truly  generous  in  spirit,  and  so  effective  in  methods,  as  that 
which  Christianity  creates  and  adorns. 

(c).  Those  forces  which  beneficially  operate  in  society, 
permeate  with  no  less  effect  communities  and  Empires.  As 
the  individual  is  the  type  of  society,  so  society  represents 
national  character.  As  society  retains  its  external  aspects, 
even  when  animated  by  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  so  nation- 
aUties  may  be  expected  still  to  retain  their  distinctive 
characteristics,  when  they  are  all  one  in  spirit.  The  idea  of 
a  world-wide  dominion  does  not  require  the  absorption  of 
all  nationalities  into  one  vast  empire,  but  it  represents  them 
associated  as  are  members  of  the  same  family,  who  yet  difiter 
from  one  another.  Not  the  kingdom  of  this  world,  but  "  its 
kingdoms,  are  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord.'' 

This  oneness  of  many  kingdoms,  with  widely  dililering 
forms,  is  dependent  on  the  oneness  of  principle  which  Jesus 
Christ  himself  embodies.  Love  and  holiness  are  its  charac- 
teristics. Love  is  its  compacting  power,  and  holiness  its 
universal  expression.  The  mind  which  was  in  Christ  is 
to  be  in  the  Christian.  The  world  is  to  become  of  "  one 
mind  in  the  Lord."  To  this  universality  of  empire  the 
Scriptures  direct  us.  The  unity  of  God  and  the  unity  of  the 
human  race,  as  taught  in  Scripture,  presuppose  the  ulti- 
mate  unity  of  the   kingdoms   of   the  world.       Diversity 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  37 1 

of  races  and  of  nationalities  does  not  necessitate  the 
abandonment  of  the  idea  that  Jesus  shall  be  acknowledged 
"  Lord  of  all."  Christianity  does  not  obliterate,  in  the  indi- 
vidual, mental  characteristic,  or  produce  a  monotonous  uni- 
formity. After  conversion,  each  continues  himself  -x^  before 
it.  Though  modified,  constitutional  qualities  abide.  The 
Prophets  and  the  Apostles  were  one  in  spirit,  though  easily 
distinguishable  in  their  representation  of  that  spirit.  The 
genius  of  Isaiah,  the  pathos  of  Jeremiah,  the  statesmanship 
of  Daniel,  the  philosophic  thoughtfulness  of  St.  John,  and 
the  reasoning  power  of  the  apostle  Paul,  not  only  retained 
their  lustre  undiminished,  but  had  their  intensity  increased 
by  faith  in  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Thus  also  may  nations 
be  so  diversified  as  to  be  apparently  antagonistic,  while  in 
reality  they  shall  be  of  one  mind  in  Christ.  In  this  idea  of  a 
universal  sway  over  the  human  mind  by  one  Lord,  there  is 
surpassing  grandeur.  That  the  idea  of  a  universal  kingdom 
had  a  place  in  Babylonian,  if  not  indeed  long  before,  in 
Egyptian,  history  is  certain.  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  at 
least,  contemplated  a  kingdom  that  shall  "  not  be  left  to 
other  people,  but  that  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all 
those  kingdoms,  and  that  shall  stand  for  ever  and  ever." 
Cyrus,  Alexander,  and  Csesar  attempted  to  realise  this  idea, 
but  they  utterly  failed.^  The  one  true  idea  was  couched  in  the 
first  promise  to  our  first  parents,  and  it  had  continuous  and 
consistent  development  in  the  Scriptures  until  the  close  of 
the  Old  Testament ;  but  the  Jews  mistaking  the  import  of 
revelation,  looked  for  a  material  organisation,  and  they 
missed  the  Truth. 

As  an  idea,  it  is  surpassed  in  grandeur  only  by  the  history 
of  the  means  through  which  it  is  to  be  realised.     Great  con- 

1  See  Luthardt's  "Fundamental  Truths  of  Christianity,"  pp.  227-230. 


372  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XVI. 


querors  sought  to  influence  nations  through  their  princes ; 
they  treated  only  with  the  mighty.  But  Jesus  began  with 
the  lowest ;  He  went  to  the  basement  of  society  to  uplift 
and  permeate  its  whole  mass;  He  was  bom  among  the  poor, 
His  lot  was  in  their  midst ;  He  was  identified  with  them,  and 
made  them  the  special  objects  of  His  ministry.  To  the  dis- 
ciples of  John,  who  put  the  question  to  him  whether  he  was 
the  Christ,  He  answered,  as  evidence  of  His  mission,  "And 
the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  tliem ;''  and  now  only 
is  the  world  awakening  to  a  just  conception  of  the  marvel- 
lous sublimity  of  the  blending  benevolence,  wisdom,  and 
power  which  appear  in  the  very  commencement  of  the  Sa- 
viour's work.^ 

The  moral  magnificence  of  His  undertaking  is  all  the  more 
impressive  when  we  remember  that  this  kingdom  has  to  be 
established  by  the  diffusion  of  principles  which  are  ever  in- 
tensely distasteful  to  human  nature.  Not  only  did  Judaism 
and  heathenism  dislike  the  demand  for  inmost  holiness  as  the 
basis  of  external  consistency,  but  they  regarded  with  invet- 
erate repugnance  the  very  thought  of  a  universal  religion 
which  should  subdue  the  whole  world  and  extend  throughout 
succeeding  generations. 

How,  therefore,  could  Christianity  be  the  natural  outcome 
of  powers  which  sought  its  instant  destruction  through  the 
crucifixion  of  the  Saviour,  and  which  have  for  the  last 
eighteen  centuries  relentlessly  resisted  its  extension  ? 

The  inference  that  Christianity  is  a  mere  historical  result, 
evolved  by  slow  changes  from  ancient  religions,  though 
plausible,  is  really  futile.  That  there  was  a  preparation  in 
mental  conditions  for  the  Son  of  Man's  Advent,  as  there 
had  been  in  material  conditions  for  our  first  parents, — that 

*  See  Bushneirb  "Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  chapter  x. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  373 

there  were  "unconscious  prophecies  of  heathenism  "^  pointing 
to  Jesus  as  the  "  Desire  of  all  nations,"  few  will  be  disposed 
to  deny ;  but  that  conclusion  is  widely  ditferent  from  the 
notion  that  Christianity  is  the  mere  natural  growth  of  the 
old  religions  of  Paganism,  as  man  is,  in  the  beUef  of  some, 
the  lineal  descendant  of  the  monkey  tribe.  Voltaire  and 
his  school  revelled, — and  blundered  egregiously  as  they 
revelled, — in  their  reasoning,  that  Christianity  was  the  puny 
offspring  of  Eastern  religions.  We  do  not  require  to  doubt  or 
deny  that,  in  false  religious  systems,  there  may  readily  be 
found  some  truths  which  have  their  counterpart  in  Christianity; 
but  Christianity  is  so  far  in  advance  of  them  all,  that  no  one 
can  really  trace  its  outcome  from  Paganism  \  it  has  also 
diffused  practices  which  have  no  counterpart  in  any  other 
system,  and  for  whose  existence  there  is  no  satisfactory 
explanation  whatever,  apart  from  the  Bible.  It  has 
no  originality,  if  it  is  regarded  merely  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  moral  truths  embodied  in  ancient  philosophy,  or  if 
it  is  held  to  be  no  more  than  the  last  utterance  of  some  dog- 
matic traditions  which  have  in  varying  forms  existed  in  all 
religions.^  Students  have  spoken  too  hastily.  The  "Science 
of  Religion"  has  not  yet  assumed  any  definite  outline.  Max 
Miiller  admits  this.  ^  We  can  afford  to  wait,  and  also  to 
welcome  any  other  discoveries  that  may  be  made.  The 
bitter  inferences  of  Voltaire  have  been  rejected  even  by 
those  scholars  who  are  indifferent  to  the  Bible,  and  we  can 
look  with  calm  interest  to  the  growth  of  a  science  of  religion, 
promoted  by  the  recent  discovery  of  authentic  documents  of 
the  most  influential  religions  in  the  ancient  world.  The 
Bible  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  Canonical  Books  of  Bud- 

'  See  Trench's  "  Hulsean  Lectures,"  1846.     Introductory  Lecture. 
*  See  De  Pressense's  "  Religions  before  Christ,"  conchiding  chapter. 
3  Max  Miiller's  "Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,"  p.  378. 


374  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  [cHAP.  XVI. 

dhism,  the  Zend-Avesta  of  Zoroaster,  and  the  Hymns  of 
Rigveda,  although  reveaUng  what  religions  were  existing 
before  that  old  mythology  which  was  a  ruin  even  in 
Homer's  time.  ^  Tested  by  their  practical  results  they  all 
fail ;  they  cannot  be  compared  with  Christianity  in  its  love, 
in  its  holiness,  in  its  missionary  spirit.  While  these  religions 
are  limited  to  Asia,  the  Gospel  has  its  sanctuaries  in  all  lands, 
and  its  glorious  aim  is,  through  the  grace  of  God  and  by  his 
Holy  Spirit,  to  reach  every  heart  and  home  in  the  world. 

(d.)  In  the  face  of  all  this,  we  are  met  by  the  repeated 
assertion  that  Christianity  has  failed,  that  it  is  effete,  and 
must  be  abandoned.  But  to  this  it  may  be  answered,  Is  it 
true  ?  Have  ever  sunken  tribes  been  found  which  it  has 
failed  to  uplift  and  enrich?  Has  ever  nation  been  found 
which  has  been  ruined  by  the  adoption  of  its  principles  ? 
Is  not  the  continuous  history  of  Christianity  the  refutation  of 
such  assertions  ? 

The  triumphs  of  the  gospel  in  Asia,  Europe,  and  Africa, 
during  the  earUer  centuries,  have  arrested  the  thought  of 
even  the  most  indifferent,  and  have  taxed  the  philosophy 
of  the  sceptic  to  account  for  their  completeness. 

In  comparatively  recent  times,  the  most  ferocious  and 
debased  cannibal  tribes  have  been  subdued  by  the  influence 
of  the  gospel, — the  most  sunken  tribes  in  the  world, — 
men  of  all  races,  of  all  grades  in  society,  and  of  all  stages 
in  culture,  have  rejoiced  in  the  blessing  of  which,  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  they  have  become  partakers. 

It  were  easy  to  adduce  ample  testimony  to  the  power  of 
the  gospel  in  rooting  out  the  most  debasing  social  practices 
and  in  overturning  long-established  systems  of  idolatry. 
The  records  of  Missionary  enterprise  vindicate  the  claim  of 

1  Max  Miiller's  "Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,"  p.  378. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  BLENDING  LIGHTS.  375 

the  gospel  to  be  the  one  mighty  power  which  is  destined  to 
revolutionise  and  exalt  the  world ;  but  we  can  do  little  more 
than  refer  the  reader  to  some  of  them.  The  South  Sea 
Islanders,  for  instance,  physically  a  noble  race,  and  favoured 
with  Nature's  richest  products,  were  idolaters,  destitute  of 
principle,  ferocious  in  war,  murderers  of  their  offspring,  and 
stained  mth  the  blood  of  human  sacrifices,  have  been  so 
changed  as  to  present,  in  some  instances,  the  comeliness, 
the  spirit,  and  grace  of  civilised  communities.  And  the 
Fuegians,  small  in  stature,  filthy,  and  almost  hopelessly 
debased,  have  been  in  part  reclaimed  and  uplifted.  Dr. 
Livingstone,  whose  impartiality  all  acknowledge,  gives  it  as 
his  conclusion,  after  carefully  noting  the  effects  of  Christianity 
on  many  hundreds  of  the  Griquas  and  Bechuanas,  and  com- 
paring them  not  with  what  appears  in  Britain,  but  with 
practices  in  neighbouring  tribes,  that  if  the  whole  subject 
Avere  examined  in  the  severest  and  most  scientific  way,  the 
changes  effected  by  the  missionaries  would  be  reckoned 
unquestionably  very  great.  No  tribe  has  ever  yet  been 
found  so  sunken  as  to  be  beyond  the  power  of  Divine 
truth,  when  presented  in  the  gospel  message.  In  every 
part  of  the  habitable  globe  where  the  voice  of  the  missionary 
has  been  heard,  most  notable  changes  have  been  eftected, 
and  the  sufficiency  of  divine  grace  has  been  most  distinctly 
manifested.  The  boasted  systems  of  the  East  have  proved 
barren  of  similar  results.  There  is  in  them  no  missionary 
spirit,  because  there  is,  and  there  can  be,  no  love  as  a  motive 
force.  Mohammedanism,  Buddhism,  and  other  systems,  are 
now  circumscribed,  apathetic,  and  monotonous ;  they  seek  no 
outlet,  they  are  destitute  of  enthusiasm,  and  are,  therefore, 
without  missionaries  to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  earth. 

The   field  which   lay  before  us   at   the  outset   of  these 
lectures  has  been  traversed,  and  if  we  liave  found  in  our 


376  BLEXDIXG   LIGHTS.  [CHAP.  XVI. 


survey  more  to  encourage  than  perplex  the  Bible  student, 
our  object  has  been  gained.  Studies  which  have  been 
prosecuted  in  the  various  departments  of  Natural  Science, 
Archaeology,  and  History,  sometimes  with  the  avowed  object 
of  confuting  the  Bible, — as  well  as  many  of  those  incidental 
inferences  which  have  been  the  result  of  purely  scientific 
inquiry, — have  so  often  become  the  sources  not  only  of 
defence,  but  of  singularly  attractive  and  instructive  exposi- 
tions of  Scripture  passages  which  before  were  somewhat 
obscure,  that  we  may  well  rejoice  in  the  assurance  that 
whatever  difficulties  remain  shall  disappear  in  the  fuller 
light  of  extending  knowledge,  and  that  fail  or  change  what 
may,  the  "  Word  of  the  Lord  endureth  for  ever." 


THE  END. 


J.  AND  J.  COOK,  PRINTBKS,  I'AISLBV. 


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